Premier Alliance Announces Closing of Ecological, LLC Acquisition

CHARLOTTE, NC--(Marketwire - Jan 3, 2013) - Premier Alliance Group, Inc., (OTCQB: PIMO) a strategic advisory, services, and solutions firm focused on providing 360° Intelligence Delivery through our Knowledge Based Expertise ("KBE"), today announced the closing of the acquisition of Ecological, LLC, a New York-based environmental sustainability company, in a cash and stock transaction. Mr. Joseph J. Grano, Jr., Chairman and Co-founder of Ecological, will become Premier's non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"I look forward to joining Premier Alliance as Chairman of the Board," said Mr. Grano. "The combination of these two firms enables us to offer clients a unique service that normally requires multiple vendors. With today's more challenging energy environment, which includes added regulation along with cost concerns, I believe our model will offer a competitive advantage."

"We are pleased to acquire Ecological, a company which we believe will bring tremendous value to Premier by helping us further expand offerings in our Energy Solutions business segment," said Mark Elliott, CEO of Premier Alliance. "This acquisition enables us to plant a flag in the Northeast with a presence emanating from New York City. Additionally, Ecological occupies an important strategic position as it relates to energy regulation in New York City. This will further our competitive advantage in this sector as we aggressively grow the business unit and attempt to win a higher percentage of the opportunities we are currently seeking.

"Plus adding a respected executive such as Joseph Grano to lead our Board of Directors will help us add to our growing business network of contacts, while providing strong leadership for management. We believe Mr. Grano's strong credibility in the business community will benefit Premier Alliance as we continually seek to rapidly expand our business. Ecological has built an impressive backlog to meet the required new regulations requiring many commercial buildings to have energy benchmarking and audits. This regulation takes effect in 2013. Following the closing of the acquisition, Premier Alliance will have an established footprint on the East and West coasts for providing energy efficiency and sustainability services. Together, we look forward to leveraging our relationships, clientele, and geographic footprint."

About Ecological, LLC
Ecological develops and implements sustainability action plans for real estate portfolios, buildings, and tenants in order to reduce costs, improve efficiency, achieve regulatory compliance, and increase value. Ecological's services range from metering and monitoring, to in-depth audits and analysis, to LEED certification, to executing retrofit projects. By improving the efficiency of environmental systems, such as energy, water, and carbon, Ecological can drastically reduce costs; reposition its clients' buildings as "green"; and create higher value and yield for real estate assets and portfolios.

About Premier Alliance Group, Inc. 
Premier Alliance Group, Inc. (OTCQB: PIMO) provides Knowledge Based Expertise ("KBE") through its strategic advisory, services, and solutions delivery capabilities. The firm provides 360° Intelligence Delivery, a holistic approach to meet client objectives, through our Professional Services and Solutions Groups. We currently have two major delivery verticals, Energy and Risk/Compliance, driven by increased energy mandates as well as regulatory requirements across several industries. Our Energy capabilities position us as a leading provider of energy efficiency and sustainable facilities solutions. This includes designing, engineering and installing disparate solutions and technologies that enable clients to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint. Our Risk/Compliance capabilities encompass Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) and Business Performance & Technology as we assist clients with Risk Management, Compliance, Organizational Effectiveness, Project Management, and Information Management. Premier Alliance is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit www.premieralliance.com.

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Certain information contained in this press release may be forward-looking. Actual results might differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of Premier Alliance Group to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking.