/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR
DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED
STATES/
VANCOUVER, May 30, 2018 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX: UR)
("UrtheCast" or the "Company") announced today that,
with the completion of the UrtheDaily senior loan facility and the
subordinated capital financing, Tye Burt and Letitia A. (Tish) Long have decided,
individually, not to stand for reelection as directors at its
annual and special shareholder meeting (the "Meeting")
scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
(Vancouver time) on June 25, 2018 at the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver
at 300-999 Canada Place, Vancouver,
BC. Greg Nordal has also
decided not to extend his three-month term as Interim CEO and to
resign as Interim CEO and member of the board of directors of
UrtheCast (the "Board") effective as of May 29, 2018. The Company is in advanced stages
of a CEO search and will provide a progress update in due
course.
At the Meeting, six management nominees will stand for election
to the Board, including two long-serving directors, William M. Evans (director since June, 2013) and
James Topham (director since May,
2015) along with two directors appointed on May 25, 2018, namely Mark. J. Piegza and
Adam M. Vore. Management nominees
also include two highly qualified candidates, Andreas M. Georghiou and John (Jack) Shannon (see below for a summary of
their qualifications). Upon the election of directors to the Board
at the Meeting, the Board expects that an independent director will
be appointed as Chair of the Board and Board committees will be
reconstituted in accordance with best corporate governance
practices.
The Company wishes to recognize and thank each of Mr. Burt, Mr.
Nordal and Ms. Long for their outstanding leadership and unfailing
dedication to ensuring the long-term future of the Company,
especially during the challenging times over the last few
months.
- Tye Burt has been Chair of the Board for most of the time
Urthecast has been a publicly traded company. Under his leadership
and with his broad-based experience, the Company has grown from a
startup with 80 employees and little revenue to an operational
organization of more than 280 employees and sales last year of
approximately $40 million. Under
Tye's leadership, the company has provided unique earth observation
sensors on the International Space Station, acquired two
operational earth observation satellites (Deimos 1 and 2), and
developed a world-leading synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
technology. His dogged perseverance and his uncanny ability to form
a consensus among diverse interests were the driving forces that
resulted in the successful completion of these visions.
- Greg Nordal has also been on the
Board for most of the time Urthecast has been a publicly traded
company. During this time, he served as Chair of the Compensation
Committee and a member of the Technical and Operational Committee
where his extensive management experience brought unique insight
and a depth of understanding essential to the operation of these
committees. Three months ago, Greg accepted the role of Interim CEO
of the Company at great personal sacrifice. His management skills
successfully guided the Company through the completion of the
UrtheDaily senior loan facility and the subordinated capital
financing. The Company is indebted to Greg for his wholehearted
dedication to making UrtheCast a successful organization and his
selflessness to take on the arduous duties of the role during this
time period. Mr. Nordal's departure from his role as Interim CEO
and a member of the company's Board of Directors will take
immediate effect.
- Tish Long has been a Board
member for several years and has served as a member of the
Technical and Operations Committee and the Audit Committee. For the
past few months, she has been Chair of the Compensation Committee.
In all of her committee and Board work, Tish contributed
thoughtful, incisive and relevant points of view informed by her
extensive technical and management experience. Her deep
understanding of the Earth Observation business, her broad
technical expertise, and her CEO-level management skills have
provided the Company with the confidence that the UrtheDaily
constellation program is well founded and that the SAR technology
being developed by the Company is world-class. The Company wishes
to thank Tish for providing the independent business and technical
analysis and advice so essential to the success of a high
technology company like UrtheCast.
Tye, Greg and Tish have set the Company on a course with great
promise and the Company wishes them the very best as they embark on
the next opportunities of their remarkable careers.
Set out below is a summary of the qualifications of each of Mr.
Georghiou and Mr. Shannon who will stand for election as management
nominees at the Meeting.
- Andreas Georghiou has over 30
years of experience at various senior executive positions, most of
them in the satellite industry, including as Chief Executive
Officer of Spacenet, Inc., Member of the Management Committee of
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Chief Commercial Officer
(responsible for Sales and Marketing) and Senior Vice-President,
Asset Management of SES Americom and Senior Vice-President for
Global Satellite Services, General Electric. He is also a former
Chairman of the Board at Dunmore Corporation, presently serves as
CEO of Andreas Pallas Consulting Inc., and provides advisory
services to boards of telecommunication and technology companies
and investment companies. He has an M.S. degree in Operations
Research from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Sc. from the
same University in Statistics and Mathematics. He is a Fulbright
Scholar and was a teaching assistant in the Wharton MBA
program.
- John (Jack) Shannon is a
New York attorney who for the past
14 years was a Managing Director and Head of Compliance for
Investment Banking and Capital Markets at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch. Previously, he was the head of Equity Capital Markets
Compliance at UBS and worked in Merrill Lynch's Litigation and
Regulatory Law department as well as its Investment Banking
Counsel's office. Jack received a Bachelor of Science in Economics
from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from
Fordham University School of Law.
The purpose of the Meeting is, among other things, to elect
directors to the Board. Details on the matters to be considered at
the Meeting will be described in full in a management information
circular (the "Circular") to be mailed to shareholders in
the coming days. An electronic copy of the Circular will be
available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under UrtheCast's issuer
profile and on the Company's website at www.urthecast.com.
About UrtheCast
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves
the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a
wide range of information-rich products and services.
For more information, visit UrtheCast's website at
www.urthecast.com.
Forward Looking Information
This release contains certain information which, as presented,
constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-oriented
financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian
securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements
that relate to future events and often addresses expected future
business and financial performance, containing words such as
"anticipate", "plan", "explore" and "expect", statements that an
action or event "may", "should" or "will" be taken or occur, or
other similar expressions. Such statements reflect UrtheCast's
current views with respect to future events. Such statements are
necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that,
while considered reasonable by UrtheCast as at the date of this
press release, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties
and contingencies. Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, performance or achievements that may be
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements; as well as
those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual
information form dated April 2, 2018,
which is available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at
www.sedar.com. UrtheCast cautions readers that such factors and
uncertainties are not exhaustive and that should certain risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying estimates or
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or
achievements may vary significantly from those expected. There can
be no assurance that the actual strategies, results, performance,
events or activities anticipated by the Company will be realized
or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the
expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company.
UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking
statements except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers
are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to
forward-looking statements.
SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.