SCOTTSDALE, Arizona,
July 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
John Short, Baruch Halpern, Henk Hoogenkamp and
David Goldman to Continue Service as
Directors
Brent
Rosenthal, Beth Bronner and
Ari Gendason to Join
Board
Dr. Robert
Smith named Chief Operating Officer, Mark McKnight takes Role as President of
Contract
Manufacturing Sales, and Michael
Goose to Join as President of Ingredient Sales and
Marketing
RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ: RIBT and RIBTW) ("RiceBran" or
the "Company") today announced that it has entered into an
agreement with LF-RB Management, LLC, Stephen D. Baksa, Richard Bellofatto, Edward M. Giles, Michael
Goose, Gary L. Herman,
Larry Hopfenspirger and Richard Jacinto II (collectively, the "LF-RB
Group"). The LF-RB Group beneficially owns approximately 9.0% of
the Company's outstanding stock.
As reported on June 28, 2016, the
independent inspector of elections at the Company's 2016 Annual
Meeting of Shareholders determined that the incumbent Board
received more than 5.2 million votes and LF-RB Group's proposed
slate of directors received 3.2 million votes. In the interest of
its shareholders, the Company negotiated a comprehensive agreement
with the LF-RB Group and made changes it sees as beneficial to our
shareholders and the Company's ultimate goal of building
shareholder value.
Pursuant to terms of the agreement, the Company's Board of
Directors (the "Board") was reconstituted to comprise John Short, Baruch Halpern, Henk Hoogenkamp, and
David Goldman, who are continuing
directors, and Brent Rosenthal,
Beth Bronner, and Ari Gendason, who were designated by the LF-RB
Group. The new Board members have significant experience in the
food industry, finance and capital markets. Further biographical
information about the new Board members is provided below.
Under the agreement, the Board will appoint Mr. Rosenthal as
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Goldman as Chairman of the
Audit committee and Ms. Bronner as Chairman of the Compensation
Committee. In addition, Messrs. Rosenthal, Gendason, Hoogenkamp and
Goldman will become members of the Nominating and Governance
Committee, and Messrs. Rosenthal and Hoogenkamp will serve as
Co-Chairmen of such committee.
At the same time, the Company has restructured its Senior
Management team and added new talent in order to focus on high
margin sales opportunities in the food ingredient space. Dr.
Robert Smith has been named Chief
Operating Officer, Mark McKnight has
taken the role of President of Contract Manufacturing Sales and
Michael Goose will join the
Company's senior management team as President of Ingredient Sales
and Marketing. Mr. Goose is a new products innovator with
significant consumer packaged goods experience, and a proven track
record in developing business at The Hain Celestial Group.
RiceBran Technologies believes these changes will enhance its
ability to focus on the substantial opportunities that exist in the
rapidly growing natural, organic and functional food markets, both
domestically and internationally.
John Short, Chief Executive
Officer of the Company, commented: "On behalf of RiceBran
Technologies, I welcome Brent, Beth and Ari as new independent
directors of the Board. We expect to benefit from their business
experience and industry contacts as we continue to execute the
Company's strategy to drive enhanced value for shareholders by
converting feed to food and attacking the rapidly growing market
for natural, organic and functional foods. We are also very excited
that Michael Goose will be joining
our senior management team to drive sales and marketing of our high
margin human and functional food ingredients. I want to thank our
departing directors Robert
Schweitzer, Peter Woog and
Marco Galante for their years of
distinguished service and contributions."
Gary L. Herman, managing member
of the LF-RB Group, added: "The LF-RB Group is confident that its
three director designees and President of Ingredient Sales and
Marketing will work collaboratively with the continuing directors
in order to drive the Company toward an exciting new phase of
growth and prosperity."
Brent Rosenthal, newly appointed
Chairman of the Board, added: "The reconstituted board effectively
positions RiceBran to execute the Company's business strategy and
maximize long term shareholder value. We look forward to helping
RiceBran Technologies capitalize on the prevailing trends of the
consumer migration to healthy and natural products."
Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. and Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman
Grodin Law Corporation are serving as legal counsel to the Company.
Pepper Hamilton LLP is serving as legal counsel to the LF-RB
Group.
About Brent
Rosenthal
Mr. Rosenthal is a Partner with affiliates of W.R. Huff Asset
Management Co., LLC, where he has been employed since 2002. He has
served as a Member of the board of directors of comScore since
February 2016 and has been a Special
Advisor to the board of directors of Park City Group, a food safety
and supply chain software company, since November 2015. Mr. Rosenthal also serves on the
boards of directors of two privately-held branded Hispanic food
companies. Previously Mr. Rosenthal served as a member of the board
directors of Rentrak from 2008 to 2016 and as the Non-Executive
Chairman from 2011 to 2016.
About Beth
Bronner
Ms. Bronner is Managing Director at Mistral Equity Partners, a
private equity firm specializing in the consumer and food sector.
Ms. Bronner is a recognized senior business leader with a track
record of delivering strong revenue and market share growth for
marquee brands. Ms. Bronner served on the Board of Directors of The
Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) from 1993-2010. Ms. Bonner also
served on the Board of Directors of Jamba, Inc. from 2009-2012. At
Revlon, she was President of Revlon Professional, North America. At Sunbeam, she was President
of the Health Division. At AT&T, she was Vice-President,
Consumer Market/Business Markets. At Citibank, she was Senior Vice
President & Chief Marketing Officer of the Consumer/Retail
business. Ms. Bronner has also served as Global Chief Marketing
Officer of Beam Spirits and Wine.
About Ari
Gendason
Mr. Gendason is Senior Vice President, Corporate Investments of
Continental Grain Company, a global food and agriculture company.
He has been with Continental Grain Company since 2004. Mr. Gendason
was formerly an Associate at VantagePoint Venture Partners; an
Associate at Greenbridge Capital; an Associate at RSL
Communications; and an Investment Banking Analyst at CIBC
Oppenheimer.
About Michael
Goose
Mr. Goose has over 13 years of consumer package goods experience
as a new product innovator and leader. Mr. Goose has held numerous
positions at The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ:HAIN) from 2002 until
2014, with the latest being Director of Marketing for Strategic
Brands, where he was responsible for over 1000 different SKUs.
About RiceBran Technologies
RiceBran Technologies is a packaged functional food, functional
food ingredient, human food ingredient and animal nutrition company
focused on the procurement, bio-refining and marketing of numerous
products derived from traditional and organic rice bran. RiceBran
Technologies has proprietary and patented technology that allows us
to convert rice bran, one of the world's most underutilized food
sources, into a number of highly nutritious packaged functional
foods, functional food ingredients, human food ingredients and
animal nutrition products. Our target markets are retailers, brand
owners, wholesalers and manufacturers of packaged functional foods,
functional food ingredients, human food ingredients and animal
nutrition products, both domestically and internationally. More
information can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC and
by visiting our website at http://www.ricebrantech.com.
Contacts:
Investors:
Ascendant Partners, LLC
Fred Sommer, +1-732-410-9810
fred@ascendantpartnersllc.com
Media:
ICR
Phil Denning, +1-646-277-1258
Phil.Denning@icrinc.com
or
Jason Chudoba, +1-646-277-1249
Jason.Chudoba@icrinc.com
SOURCE RiceBran Technologies