Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNR), an environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products, announced today that ExecRank has named Benjamin Cowart, Chairman and CEO of Vertex, to its list of Top Micro-Cap CEOs Driving Shareholder Value. Mr. Cowart placed 28 out of 150 selected executives.

Mr. Cowart said, “This is quite an honor, and I am very grateful to ExecRank for the award. Of course, a CEO cannot succeed without a talented and experienced staff. I am privileged to have an abundance of amazing people on my team at Vertex, and I share this award with them.”

He added, “We are well-positioned to capitalize on the long-term changes that have been taking place in our industry. Among the key investment steps we have undertaken as part of our business strategy are the Omega acquisition and the proposed Heartland transaction, as well as some necessary investments to improve long-term efficiencies. We believe that we are now in a position for solid growth momentum through the rest of the year, into 2015 and beyond.”

ExecRank has created position specific patent-pending proprietary algorithms for ranking executives. Our algorithms were developed, tested, and refined over a three year process that incorporated insights and feedback from position specific executives, recruiters, analysts, and evaluation committees featuring some of the world’s most renowned business leaders. Our algorithms serve as objective standards for position specific executive performance, and are designed to produce results that can act as leading indicators for future executive and company performance. The ExecRank algorithms calculate values for a minimum of 24 key categories for each executive position.

ABOUT EXECRANK

ExecReps' Research Division ExecRank is the definitive ranking service of leading executives who have achieved the highest level of professional achievement and peer recognition. ExecReps Inc. (http://www.ExecReps.com) is an Executive Research and Advisory Firm that operates a first in class platform for Board Membership, Strategic Introductions, and Executive Best Practices. Members include C-Level executives from companies including Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and hundreds of others. Read more about ExecReps & ExecRank at www.ExecReps.com.

For the full list please visit: http://execrank.com/2014-rankings/top-ceos-driving-shareholder-value-micro-cap-companies/

ABOUT VERTEX ENERGY, INC.

Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNR) is a leading environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products. Its primary focus is recycling used motor oil and other petroleum by-product streams. Vertex purchases these streams from an established network of local and regional collectors and generators. Vertex also manages the transport, storage and delivery of the aggregated feedstock and product streams to end users, and manages the re-refining of a portion of its aggregated petroleum streams in order to sell them as higher-value end products. Vertex sells its aggregated petroleum streams as feedstock to other re-refineries and fuel blenders or as replacement fuel for use in industrial burners. The re-refining of used motor oil that Vertex manages takes place at its facility, which uses a proprietary Thermal Chemical Extraction Process (“TCEP”) technology. Based in Houston, Texas, Vertex also has offices in Georgia, Chicago, and California. More information on Vertex can be found at www.vertexenergy.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of Vertex Energy's future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of Vertex Energy, its divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents Vertex Energy files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Vertex Energy's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Vertex Energy cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, Vertex Energy undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Vertex Energy.


Contacts

Investor Relations Contact
Vertex Energy, Inc.
Marlon Nurse, DM, 212-564-4700
Senior VP – Investor Relations