Lane Five Partners LP (“Lane Five”), today announced its
slate of three candidates for election to the Board of Directors of
Ambassadors Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:EPAX) at Ambassadors Group's 2012
annual meeting of shareholders.
Lane Five’s slate of candidates are independent, highly
qualified nominees that will add much needed experience in areas
key to Ambassadors Group’s business, including capital allocation,
strategic technology expertise, focus on operational excellence and
costs, student-centric marketing, and corporate governance.
Regarding the merits of Lane Five’s slate of strong independent
candidates, Lisa Rapuano of Lane Five commented that, “we believe
that our nominees will bring insight, accountability and fresh and
relevant perspectives to the Ambassadors Group board. If elected,
we believe they will substantially improve Ambassadors Group’s
financial profile and the long-term strategic positioning of the
valuable People to People Student Ambassadors brand”. If elected,
Lane Five’s nominees will hold three of the nine seats on the
Company’s board.
Lane Five’s nominees include Peter H. Kamin, formerly of
ValueAct Capital, and Dr. Sharon van Wyk, the Chief Operations
Officer of the American Public University System, in addition to
Ms. Rapuano.
“Lane Five has had no previous business relationships with these
nominees. Our nominees are well qualified, highly experienced and
are committed to working as independent fiduciaries to maximize
Ambassadors Group’s value. Each nominee’s accomplishments and
reputation speak for themselves. Their collective expertise is
directly relevant to helping Ambassadors Group rebuild lost
shareholder value,” Ms. Rapuano added.
Lane Five expects to file a preliminary proxy statement with the
SEC in the coming weeks and, upon clearance by the SEC, distribute
definitive copies of the proxy statement and proxy cards to
shareholders of Ambassadors Group.
Biographies of Lane Five Nominees
Information regarding Lane Five's three nominees for the
Ambassadors Group’s Board of Directors is set forth below:
PETER H. KAMIN, age 50, is the founder and Managing
Partner of 3K Limited Partnership, a private investment partnership
which was organized to invest the capital of a family trust. For
the previous 11 years, Mr. Kamin was a founding member and Managing
Partner of ValueAct Capital. ValueAct looks for fundamentally
undervalued companies with strong business models and potential
growth opportunities, and identifies positive catalysts for change
such as improving the quality of leadership or operations, internal
expansions as well as companies executing strategic acquisitions,
business unit divestitures, closings or spin-offs. Prior to
founding ValueAct Capital in 2000, Mr. Kamin founded and managed
Peak Investment L.P. Peak Investment LP was a limited partnership,
organized to make investments in a select number of domestic public
and private companies.
Mr. Kamin is presently a Director of Abatix Corp, Aldila Inc.,
Rockford Corporation, Paragon Technologies and several privately
held companies. Mr. Kamin has previously served as a Director of
Seitel, Inc., KAR Holdings, LeCroy Corp., Hanover Compressor,
Exterran, Sirva, Inc., Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., OneSource
Information Services, Inc., Data Transmission Network, TFC
Enterprises, Eskimo Pie, ACME United Corp, Hi-Port Industries and
numerous privately held companies. Mr. Kamin holds a B.A. from
Tufts University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University’s Graduate
School of Business.
SHARON VAN WYK, Ph.D., age 52, is the Executive
Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of American Public
University System (NASDAQ: APEI) (“APUS”), an accredited
online university system comprised of American Military University
and American Public University serving over 100,000 working adults
in more than 100 countries offering 89 undergraduate and graduate
degree programs. Dr. van Wyk joined APUS in 2009. At APUS, Dr. van
Wyk leads enrollment management services, student and alumni
services, and the information technology departments. From 2006 to
2008, Dr. van Wyk served as Vice President of Process Excellence,
Infrastructure & Online Customer Support at Intuit, a software
company producing consumer and commercial products such as
TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks. From 2001 to 2006, Dr. van Wyk
served as Vice President of Process Excellence and New Market
Development for Genworth Financial. From 1996 to 2001, Dr. van Wyk
served as Manager, Global Risk Management and Six Sigma for GE
Capital. From 1988 to 1996, Dr. van Wyk held several leadership
positions, including Associate Partner in the Change Management
division of Accenture, a global management consulting, technology
and outsourcing company. Dr. van Wyk was an adjunct professor for
the Executive MBA program at the University of Connecticut Business
School and possesses several process improvement certifications
including Master Black Belt and Six Sigma Instructor. Dr. van Wyk
holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems and an M.S. in Instructional
Systems from Florida State University. She earned a B.S. in
Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
LISA O’DELL RAPUANO, CFA, age 46, is the founder of Lane
Five Capital Management LP (“Lane Five Capital”). Founded in
2006, Lane Five Capital is the investment manager of Lane Five, a
long-biased, concentrated valuation-driven investment partnership,
and of other accounts it separately manages. Lane Five Capital’s
strategy is to buy significantly undervalued securities of
businesses it believes can create long-term value for shareholders
and to hold them for many years. From January 2004 to February
2006, Ms. Rapuano was the Co-Chief Investment Officer of Matador
Capital Management (“Matador”). Matador, founded in 1994,
ran the Everglades Fund, LP, a long/short U.S. hedge fund employing
a valuation driven, bottoms up approach. From 1997 to 2003, Ms.
Rapuano was a manager of the Legg Mason Special Investment Trust
(“Legg Mason Special”). From 2001 to 2003, Ms. Rapuano was
the sole manager of Legg Mason Special where her cumulative returns
ranked Legg Mason Special in the top 8% of mid-cap core mutual
funds. While at Legg Mason Special, Ms. Rapuano also served as the
Director of Research at Legg Mason Capital Management. Ms. Rapuano
joined Legg Mason in 1994 as an analyst. Ms. Rapuano was graduated
from Yale University with a B.A. in American Studies in 1988 where
she was also an All-American swimmer.
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