Effective as of May 1, 2023, Michael Toporek resigned as Chief Executive Officer of Soluna Holdings, Inc. in connection with the appointment of John Belizaire as Chief Executive Officer as part of the Company's previously announced succession plan. The company has appointed John Belizaire, the Chief Executive Officer of the company's Soluna Computing, Inc. subsidiary (“SCI') and a current director of the Company, to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective as of May 1, 2023. Mr. Belizaire served as the Chief Executive Officer of Soluna Callisto from June 2018 until the Company's acquisition of Soluna Callisto in October 2021.

He also serves as an Operating Advisor of Pilot Growth Equity, a technology growth equity firm, since October 2020. In addition, Mr. Belizaire serves on the Board of Directors of Center for American Entrepreneurship, since May 2020, and the Board of Directors at BanQu Inc, since June 2018. Mr. Belizaire served as the Managing Partner of NextStage LLC, a venture capital firm, from 2002 to 2016.

Since June 2006, Mr. Belizaire was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FirstBest Systems, which was acquired by Guidewire Software in September 2016, where he served as a Senior Industry Advisor until May 2017. Since January 1997, Mr. Belizaire was the Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of TheoryCenter, Inc., which was acquired by BEA Systems, Inc. in November 1999, where he served as a Senior Director, Business Development and Strategic Planning until April 2002. Mr. Belizaire has a B.S. in Computer Science and a Master of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Mr. Belizaire also attended the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School from 2001 to 2002.