BLBX BlackBoxStocks Inc

 

 

The following table sets forth the names, ages and positions of our executive officers and directors. All directors of our Company hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors have been elected and qualified. The executive officers of our Company are appointed by our Board of Directors and hold office until their death, resignation or removal from office.

 

* Independent Director as defined by Nasdaq Rule 5605(a)(2).

(1) Member of the Compensation Committee.

(2) Member of the Audit Committee.

(3) Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee.

 

 

Gust Kepler, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kepler was appointed to serve as a director and our President and Chief Executive Officer on December 1, 2015. Mr. Kepler also serves as the President of G2 International, Inc. (“G2”). G2 is a consulting firm with expertise in investment banking founded by Mr. Kepler in 2002. G2’s primary focus is taking private companies public and providing advice regarding capitalization, strategic planning and investor relations. Prior to founding G2, Mr. Kepler founded Parallax Entertainment, Inc. (“Parallax”) in 1996. Parallax was an independent record label, online promotional vehicle and e-commerce solution for musicians on the Internet. Mr. Kepler managed all aspects of the label including A&R, production, marketing and distribution. In 2000, Mr. Kepler successfully completed a direct public offering for the company and Parallax subsequently became a publicly traded company on the OTC Bulletin Board. Mr. Kepler was also the cofounder of Glance Toys, Ltd. (“Glance Toys”) which was formed in 1990. Glance Toys designed, manufactured and marketed products classified in junior sporting goods category. Products included foam balls, flying discs and beach products, some of which received patents. Glance Toy’s products were sold nationally in prominent chains such as Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, 7-Eleven, and numerous other well-known retailers.

 

Robert Winspear, Director, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. Mr. Winspear was appointed as a Director and our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary on September 11, 2021. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Winspear had been the President of Winspear Investments LLC, a Dallas based private investment firm specializing in lower middle market transactions, since 2002. Winspear Investments has made investments in a wide range of industries including banking, real estate, distribution, supply chain management, mega yacht marinas and hedge funds. Mr. Winspear was Vice President, Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of Excel Corporation, a credit card processing company (formerly EXCC:OTC) from May of 2014 to June of 2017. Mr. Winspear is on the board of directors of Alpha Financial Technologies/EAM Corporation, located in Dallas, Texas and VII Peaks Co-Optivist Income BDC II, Inc. an investment management company located in Orinda, California. Mr. Winspear earned a BBA and a MPA from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Eric Pharis, Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Pharis is a founder of Blackboxstocks and was appointed Chief Operating Officer on September 11, 2021. Mr. Pharis has been working in quantitative finance for over 20 years. Prior to founding the Company with Mr. Kepler, Mr. Pharis worked in the proprietary trading operations of Daytek Securities, a pioneer in the area of electronic and algorithm trading, and also founded high frequency trading firm Blackbox Karma in 2005 as well as quantBrasil, a fully quantitative, computer driven hedge fund in Brazil launched in 2012 and EDM Operators, a commodities trading company using automated software based on news events launched in 2014. Mr. Pharis directs the development of the Company’s proprietary algorithms as well as data analysis. Mr. Pharis earned a bachelor of mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a master of operations research with a certificate in financial engineering from Cornell University.

 

Brandon Smith, Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Smith was appointed Chief Technology Officer on December 1, 2021. Prior to be appointed Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Smith served as a principal of Cyfeon Solutions, a consulting firm he founded in 2009. Cyfeon is a Financial Services vertical focused on operational and regulatory compliance and since 2016 was the lead architect and developer of the Company’s web-based application. Mr. Smith earned an MBA from Southern Methodist University, a BBA in CIS from Texas State University and served four years in the United States Marine Corps.

 

 

 

Andrew Malloy, Director. Mr. Malloy was appointed to serve as a director on September 11, 2021. He has been CEO of ATMalloy & Partners, a family office consulting firm, since 2018 and Co-CIO of 754 Fifth Avenue Associates LLC, a single family office since 1993. Mr. Malloy has over 35 years of experience in the alternative investment industry as both a principal, seed investor, and consultant to, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, ETF, FinTech, Digital assets, Venture Capital, and Early-Stage Angel Investing platforms and funds. Mr. Malloy sits on numerous advisory boards and earned a BA from Villanova University.

 

Ray Balestri, Director. Mr. Balestri was appointed to serve as a director on September 11, 2021. Mr. Balestri has been a partner with Bell Nunnally since 2009 and has over 30 years’ experience as a corporate attorney.  His practice focuses on assisting businesses with a wide variety of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, business sales and spin-offs, private placements, private equity and venture capital investments, C-level employment agreements and employee equity plans, and general corporate counseling in a broad array of industries. In addition to his legal experience Mr. Balestri has significant investment experience in a wide variety of private companies with over 40 holdings through his family investment partnership. Mr. Balestri earned a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois and a J.D. from Harvard University.

 

Dalya Sulaiman, Director. Ms. Sulaiman was appointed to serve as a director on September 11, 2021. Ms. Sulaiman has been founder and CEO of Dalya Imar Insaat, a construction company based in Istanbul Turkey since 2008. In addition to her role at Dalya Imar Insaat, Ms. Sulaiman serves as a consultant to Tepe Construction (a family-owned construction company) on industrial and commercial construction projects globally and represents certain food and beverage brands expanding into new markets. Ms. Sulaiman also manages other real estate investments for MAM Abramenko as well as brand management. Ms. Sulaiman graduated from Texas Christian University with a BBA.

 

 

There are no family relationships between any director or officer of the Company and any other such person.

 

 

No director nor any executive officer has not been convicted in a criminal proceeding, excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors, nor has he been a party to any judicial or administrative proceeding during the past ten years that resulted in a judgment, decree or final order enjoining the person from future violations of, or prohibiting activities subject to, federal or state securities laws, or a finding of any violation of federal or state securities laws, except for matters that were dismissed without sanction or settlement.

 

 

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s directors, executive officers and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of the Company’s common stock (collectively, “Reporting Persons”) to file with the SEC reports regarding their ownership and changes in our ownership of our securities. We believe that, during 2021, our directors, executive officers and 10% stockholders complied with all Section 16(a) filing requirements, except as follows:

 

Brandon Smith, who was appointed to serve as our Chief Technology Officer on December 1, 2021, filed his Form 3 initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities late on January 10, 2022. Ray Balestri, a director, filed two late Form 4 statement of changes of beneficial ownership on November 19, 2021 and November 29, 2021 regarding acquisitions of our securities, and a late Form 3 initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities on November 15, 2021. Andrew Malloy, a director, filed a late Form 3 initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities on November 22, 2021. Dalya Sulaiman, a director, filed a late Form 3 initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities on November 8, 2021. Robert Winspear, a director and our Chief Financial Officer, filed a late Form 3 initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities on October 20, 2021. Gust Kepler, a director and our President and Chief Executive Officer, filed a late Form 4 statement of changes of beneficial ownership on May 3, 2021 relating to his disposition of certain of our preferred stock. Eric Pharis filed a late Form 4 statement of changes of beneficial ownership on February18, 2021.

 

 

The Board has an active role in the oversight and management of the Company’s risks and carries out its role directly and through Board committees. The Board’s direct role in the Company’s risk management process includes regular or periodic receipt and discussion of reports from management and the Company’s outside counsel and advisers on areas of material risk to the Company, including operational, strategic, financial, legal and regulatory risks.

 

 

The Board has also delegated the oversight and management of certain risks to the Audit and Compensation Committees of the Board. The Audit Committee is responsible for the oversight of Company risks relating to accounting matters, financial reporting and related party transactions. To satisfy these oversight responsibilities, the Audit Committee will regularly meet with, receive and discuss reports from the Chief Financial Officer, the Company’s independent registered public accountant, and the Company’s outside counsel. The Compensation Committee is responsible for the oversight of risks relating to the Company’s compensation and benefit programs. To satisfy these oversight responsibilities, the Compensation Committee will regularly meet with, receive and discuss reports from the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer to understand the financial, human resources and stockholder implications of compensation and benefit decisions.

 

The Board has also addressed risk through the adoption of corporate policies. The Board has adopted a Code of Ethics and Business Conduct that is designed to ensure that directors, officers and employees of the Company are aware of their legal and ethical responsibilities and conduct the Company’s business in a consistently legal and ethical manner.

 

The Company has not adopted any practices or policies regarding the ability of our employees (including officers) or Directors, or any of their designees, to purchase financial instruments (including prepaid variable forward contracts, equity swaps, collars, and exchange funds), or otherwise engage in transactions, that hedge or offset, or are designed to hedge or offset, any decrease in the market value of our common stock either granted to the employee or director by the Company as part of the compensation of the employee or director; or held, directly or indirectly, by the employee or director.

 

 

The Board has established Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Governance Committees to devote attention to specific subjects and to assist it in the discharge of its responsibilities. The functions of the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Nominating and Governance Committee are described below.

 

 

We have a separately designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. The Audit Committee’s responsibilities include, among other things: (i) selecting and retaining an independent registered public accounting firm to act as our independent auditors, setting the compensation for our independent auditors, overseeing the work done by our independent auditors and terminating our independent auditors, if necessary, (ii) periodically evaluating the qualifications, performance and independence of our independent auditors, (iii) pre-approving all auditing and permitted non-audit services to be provided by our independent auditors, (iv) reviewing with management and our independent auditors our annual audited financial statements and our quarterly reports prior to filing such reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, including the results of our independent auditors’ review of our quarterly financial statements, and (v) reviewing with management and our independent auditors significant financial reporting issues and judgments made in connection with the preparation of our financial statements. The Audit Committee also prepares the Audit Committee report that is required to be included in our annual proxy statement pursuant to the rules of the SEC. We have adopted an Audit Committee charter which can be found on our investor website at www.blackboxstocks.com.

 

The Audit Committee is composed of Andrew Malloy (Chairman), Ray Balestri and Dalya Sulaiman. The Audit Committee was newly formed on September 11, 2021 in order for us to meet our corporate governance requirements for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Under the applicable rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Capital Market, each member of the Audit Committee must be considered independent in accordance with Nasdaq Rule 5605(c)(2)(A)(i) and (ii) and Rule 10A-3(b)(1) under the Exchange Act. The Board has determined that each of the members is “independent” as that term is defined under applicable NASDAQ and SEC rules. The Audit Committee has at least one financial expert (as defined by 407 (d)(5)(ii) of Regulation S-K). Andrew Malloy is currently the Audit Committee financial expert.

 

 

The Compensation Committee is composed of Ray Balestri (Chairman), Andrew Malloy and Dalya Sulaiman, each of whom is an independent director, as defined by Nasdaq Rule 5605(a)(2). The Compensation Committee was newly formed on September 11, 2021 in order for us to meet our corporate governance requirements for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. The Compensation Committee is empowered to advise management and make recommendations to the Board with respect to the compensation and other employment benefits of executive officers, key employees and directors of the Company. The Compensation Committee also administers the Company’s stock incentive plan for officers, directors, employees and consultants. The Compensation Committee is authorized, among other powers, to determine from time to time the individuals to whom options shall be granted, the number of shares to be covered by each option and the time or times at which options shall be granted pursuant to the stock incentive plan. We have adopted a Compensation Committee charter which can be found on our investor website at www.blackboxstocks.com.

 

 

 

The Nominating and Governance Committee is composed of Ray Balestri (Chairman), Andrew Malloy and Dalya Sulaiman, each of whom is an independent director, as defined by Nasdaq Rule 5605(a)(2). The Nominating and Governance Committee was newly formed on September 11, 2021 in order for us to meet our corporate governance requirements for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. We have adopted a Nominating and Governance Committee charter which can be found on our investor website at www.blackboxstocks.com.

 

 

On March 25, 2022, the board of directors of the Company approved Amended and Restated Bylaws which were adopted and effective on April 18, 2022. The material changes to the procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to our Board reflected in the Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company are summarized below:

 

1. The bylaws have been amended to permit meetings of the Company’s stockholders to be held by means of remote communications.

 

2. A bylaw has been amended to remove rights of the stockholders to call a special meeting of the stockholders.

 

3. Bylaws have been added to permit and provide procedures for stockholder proposals and director nominees to be brought before stockholder meetings. Specifically:

 

Required Form for Stockholder Proposals. To be in proper written form, a stockholder’s notice of a proposal must set forth:

 

(a) certain information regarding the proposing person including (i) name and address, (ii) details regarding ownership of Company securities, (iii) details regarding proxy rights and (iv) any other information that would be required to be filed in a proxy statement or other filing required pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (such act, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the “Exchange Act”) to be made in connection with a general solicitation of proxies by such proposing person in support of the business proposed to be brought before the meeting;

 

(b) certain information regarding the proposal including (i) a description of the business desired to be brought before the annual meeting and the reasons why such stockholder believes that the taking of the action proposed would be in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders; (ii) a description of any material interest of any proposing person in such business and a description in reasonable detail of all agreements, arrangements and understandings among the proposing persons or between any proposing person and any other person or entity in connection with the proposal; and (iii) the text of the proposal or business; and

 

(c) the bylaws also require a proposing stockholder to appear at the annual meeting to present its proposal.

 

Required Form for Stockholder Proposals Regarding Nomination of Directors. To be in proper written form, a stockholder’s notice of a proposed director nominee must set forth:

 

(a) the information regarding the nominating person required for a stockholder proposal (described above);

 

(b) certain information regarding the nominee including (i) all information with respect to the proposed nominee that would be required to be set forth if such proposed nominee were a nominating person; (ii) all information relating to such proposed nominee that would be required to be disclosed in a proxy statement or other filing required pursuant to Section 14(a) under the Exchange Act to be made in connection with a general solicitation of proxies for an election of directors in a contested election (including such proposed nominee’s written consent to be named in the proxy statement as a nominee and to serve as a director if elected); (iii) all information that would be required to be disclosed pursuant to Items 403 and 404 under Regulation SK promulgated under the Exchange Act if the stockholder giving the notice or any other nominating person were the “registrant” for purposes of such rule and the proposed nominee were a director or executive officer of such registrant; (iv) a completed written questionnaire with respect to the identity, background and qualification of the proposed nominee and the background of any other person or entity on whose behalf the nomination is being made; and (v) a written representation and agreement that the proposed nominee (1) is not and will not become a party to (x) any agreement, arrangement or understanding with, and has not given any commitment or assurance to, any person or entity as to how the proposed nominee, if elected as a director of the Company, will act or vote on any issue or question (a “Voting Commitment”) that has not been disclosed to the Company or (y) any Voting Commitment that could limit or interfere with the proposed nominee’s ability to comply, if elected as a director of the Company, with the proposed nominee’s fiduciary duties under applicable law, (2) is not and will not become a party to any agreement, arrangement or understanding with any person or entity other than the Company with respect to any direct or indirect compensation, reimbursement or indemnification in connection with service or action as a director that has not been disclosed therein and (3) if elected as a director of the Company, would be in compliance, and will comply, with all applicable publicly disclosed corporate governance, conflict of interest, confidentiality and stock ownership and trading policies and other policies and guidelines of the Company in effect from time to time.

 

(c) the bylaws also require a nominating stockholder to appear at the annual meeting to present its nominee.

 

 

Additional Provisions Relating to the Notice of Stockholder Business and Director Nominations.

 

(a) To be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to or mailed and received by the Secretary of the Company not less than 90 nor more than 120 calendar days prior to the first anniversary of the date on which the Company held the preceding year’s annual meeting of stockholders; provided, however, that if the date of the annual meeting is advanced more than 30 calendar days prior to or delayed by more than 30 calendar days after the anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting, to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be so delivered not later than the close of business on the later of the 90th calendar day prior to the annual meeting and the 10th calendar day following the day on which public disclosure of the date of the meeting is first made.

 

(b) A stockholder providing notice of business proposed to be brought before an annual meeting or notice of any nomination to be made at an annual meeting pursuant must promptly update and supplement such notice, if necessary, so that the information provided or required to be provided is true and correct at all times up to and including the date of the meeting and any adjournment or postponement thereof.

 

 

We have adopted a formal Code of Ethics and Business Conduct applicable to all Board members, officers and employees. Our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct can be found on our website at www.blackboxstocks.com.