Donald Straszheim Joins Roth Capital Partners as Vice Chairman; Former Merrill Lynch Chief Economist to Spearhead China Initiative

Business Wire, Feb 21, 2006

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Roth Capital Partners, LLC, announced today that Donald Straszheim has joined as Vice Chairman according to Byron Roth, Chairman and CEO. The news comes on the opening day of Roth's 18th Annual OC Stock Conference in Orange County, California, which is hosting 2,400 professionals, including 240 companies and over 1,200 institutional investors.

Straszheim, long recognized as one of Wall Street's top economic and financial market experts and a specialist on China, will spearhead Roth's China initiative. He will expand the firm's current presence in the Chinese marketplace and build a team dedicated to developing a research product on Asia, with a focus on China. Straszheim and his team will also publish research on the US and global economies and markets. The China research team will be located in Roth's Los Angeles office and in China, where the firm is planning to open an office.

"Our goal is to become a formidable player in China," said Roth. "Don's reputation and his expertise will allow us to quickly capitalize on opportunities in the marketplace. We expect our clients to get great value out of Don's judgment, ideas and experience."

"Roth's focus of serving micro and small cap companies is well aligned to serve China's rapidly emerging economy, which is abundant in young companies seeking growth capital from the US public markets," he continued.

"With Roth's specialty in the micro and small cap space and our full complement of investment banking services, research, market making, institutional distribution and conferences, we believe we can add significant value to undiscovered Chinese companies, similar to what we have done in the past 15 years in the US micro-cap markets."

Straszheim comes to Roth from Straszheim Global Advisors (SGA), a global economic and financial markets research firm, with a focus on China. SGA was founded in 2002.

Straszheim says that joining Roth will allow him "to continue to build on the successful research record achieved at SGA with the added resources of Roth Capital Partners, which is recognized as the leader in the US micro-cap space."

"For the global economy, China is the agent of change and engine of growth," he added. "Chinese and American firms are eyeing each other and reform is in the air. Small firms, Roth's recognized strength, are the most important economic dynamic in China. I am looking forward to bringing these opportunities to the attention of US investors."

Straszheim served as Chief Economist for Merrill Lynch and Co. from 1985 to 1997, where he guided its worldwide economic research effort, and was the architect of its global economic viewpoint. While at Merrill Lynch, Straszheim earned Institutional Investor Magazine's "All Star" ranking for ten consecutive years. Straszheim left Merrill Lynch in 1997 to become President of the Milken Institute, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan economic- and public-policy think tank located in Southern California, which he ran until 2001.

Earlier in his career, Straszheim ran U.S. operations for Wharton Econometrics, the economic forecasting and research unit at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance. He also was chief economist for the Weyerhaeuser Company, a major forest products firm, and prior to that an economist for Investors Diversified Services, a money management firm now known as American Express Advisors.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Chartered Financial Analysts Society of Los Angeles, where he currently serves as Vice President. Straszheim also is a visiting scholar at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In addition, he serves on various other civic, public and private-sector boards. He holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University. Straszheim is a Vietnam veteran, and was a member of the Purdue University NCAA Championship golf team.

About Roth Capital Partners, LLC:

With headquarters in Newport Beach, California, and offices in strategic locations in the Western United States, Roth Capital Partners, LLC, is a full-service investment bank serving corporate and institutional clients throughout the world. Roth offers a wide array of investment banking services including: initial public offerings, follow-ons, PIPEs, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, investment research, and institutional sales and trading. The firm is perhaps best known for finding, funding and fostering the growth of emerging growth companies. Over the last ten years, Roth raised over $8.7 billion for small and micro cap public companies and completed over 123 merger, acquisition and advisory assignments. It is a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Visit the Roth Capital Partners website at www.rothcp.com.