NEW YORK, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Talkspace, a
leading digital and virtual behavioral healthcare company,
announced today its proposed public company board of directors,
which is expected to be effective as of the closing of its proposed
merger with Hudson Executive Investment Corp. ("HEIC") (NASDAQ:
HECCU, HEC, HECCW). Hudson Executive Capital founder Douglas Braunstein is expected to serve as
chairman of the diverse nine-director board, which has deep
experience in healthcare, technology and finance.
"As Talkspace prepares to become a publicly listed company, we
anticipate significant growth across the business," said
Douglas Braunstein, incoming
Talkspace board chair. "The post-business combination board brings
decades of industry expertise, knowledge and leadership that we
believe will further support the acceleration of Talkspace's growth
trajectory and the company's strides to reach new frontiers in
digital therapy. Talkspace's mission is to make behavioral
healthcare accessible to all. I am excited to work towards this
goal with such a terrific team."
"Talkspace has contributed to democratizing access to high
quality mental healthcare. Its purpose-built platform is designed
to personalize treatment and improve clinical outcomes at scale,"
said Oren Frank, Co-founder and CEO
of Talkspace. "With its robust network of credentialed health care
professionals addressing a wide spectrum of acuities, its scalable
technology platform and unique data set, we believe that Talkspace
is ideally positioned to address the vast, unmet and growing demand
for mental health services in innovative ways."
Talkspace's New Board Nominees Are:
Douglas Braunstein, Chairman
of the Board
Senior executive with deep background in
finance and extensive healthcare industry knowledge; public company
director
Douglas Braunstein is the Founder
and Managing Partner of Hudson Executive Capital. Mr. Braunstein
has over 30 years of industry experience and held a variety of
leadership positions during his 20-year tenure at JPMorgan Chase
& Co., including Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer, Head
of Investment Banking in the Americas, Head of Global M&A and
Global Industry Coverage and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking,
as well as serving on the Investment Bank Management Committee for
over a decade. Mr. Braunstein currently serves on the board
of directors of Cantaloupe Inc. (CTLP, formerly USA Technologies), and serves as Vice Chair of
the Board of Trustees of Cornell
University. Mr. Braunstein holds a Bachelor of Science
degree from Cornell University and a
J.D. degree from Harvard Law
School.
Charles Berg, Non-Executive
Director
Senior healthcare industry leader with deep
experience building and scaling payer and provider-centric
businesses; public company director
Since March 2007, Mr. Berg has
served as director of DaVita Inc. (DVA), a publicly listed
international dialysis provider, and between 2016 and 2017 he
served as the Executive Chair of DaVita Medical Group. He
previously served as Executive Chairman of WellCare Health Plans,
Inc., a provider of managed care services for government-sponsored
health care programs, and held various leadership positions with
Oxford Health Plans, Inc., including president and CEO when the
plan was acquired by UnitedHealth Group. Mr. Berg currently sits on
the board of directors of CareCentrix, Inc, a provider of
post-acute home care services. He is also a member of the Operating
Council & Senior Advisory Board of Consonance Capital Partners,
a private equity firm, and a director of Justworks, Inc. Mr. Berg
holds a J.D. from Georgetown University
Law Center and a B.A. in political science from Macalester College.
Madhu Pawar, Non-Executive
Director
Senior leader at world-class technology company
and deep experience with healthcare technology and
analytics
Madhu Pawar is a Managing
Director at Google and Carnegie Mellon
University's Adjunct Professor of Analytics in Healthcare.
At Google, Ms. Pawar manages the sales analytics and solutions
organizations that drive the SMB Adwords business globally.
Prior to Google, Ms. Pawar worked at McKinsey & Company for 12
years, where she was a partner in the healthcare systems and
services practice. She began her career in software development as
part of the Mobile Technologies division of Hewlett Packard's
Research & Development Labs in Singapore. She currently serves on the
Carnegie Mellon University Board of
Trustees' Advancement committee and on the Dean's Advisory Council
for the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. Ms.
Pawar holds a Master's degree in Information Systems from
Carnegie Mellon University and a
Bachelor's in Computer Science from Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore.
Curtis Warfield, Non-Executive
Director
Experienced senior executive with background in
healthcare services and insurance; public company director
Curtis Warfield is the President
and Chief Executive Officer of Windham Advisors LLC, a private
equity and strategic advisory firm that offers innovative business
solutions for companies operating in the technology and healthcare
sectors, and other industries. Mr. Warfield previously served as
part of the senior leadership team at Anthem, Inc., one of the
nation's largest health insurers, as a senior executive at HCA, a
healthcare facilities' operator, and as the Chief Executive Officer
of National Patient Account Services ("NPAS"), a healthcare
services company. He currently serves as a board member of Texas
Roadhouse (TXRH). Mr. Warfield holds a B.S. from the
University of Louisville, Kentucky and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Jacqueline Yeaney,
Non-Executive Director
Seasoned marketing and strategy
executive with background in high-growth software companies; public
company director
Jacqueline Yeaney is Executive
Vice President of Marketing at Tableau, a Salesforce Company, that
offers the world's leading analytics platform. Ms. Yeaney started
her career as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, and then as a
management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. She
subsequently served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and
Marketing at Red Hat, a provider of enterprise open source
solutions and Chief Marketing Officer at Ellucian Co LP. Ms.
Yeaney holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. She currently serves as a board member of Avaya
Holdings Corp. (AVYA).
Talkspace's existing board members who will stand for
election in the upcoming shareholder meeting:
- Oren Frank, Executive
Director – Talkspace Co-Founder and Chief Executive
Officer
- Roni Frank, Executive
Director – Talkspace Co-Founder and Head of Clinical
Services
- Jeffrey Crowe, Non-Executive
Director – Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners
- Erez Shachar, Non-Executive
Director – Managing Partner at Qumra Capital
HEIC Special Meeting to Approve Merger Set for June 17, 2021
Talkspace and HEIC announced their proposed business combination
on January 13, 2021. HEIC has
scheduled a special meeting of stockholders (the "Special Meeting")
for June 17, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to approve the proposed
business combination and to elect the nominated directors to the
board of directors.
The Special Meeting will be held virtually via webcast and can
be accessed by visiting
https://www.cstproxy.com/hudsoninvestcorp/sm2021. The proxy
statement is available in the Investor Resources section of HEIC's
website as well as on www.sec.gov. Stockholders of record as of the
close of business on May 19, 2021,
the Record Date, will be entitled to vote their shares at the
Special Meeting.
After the transaction closes, Talkspace intends to list its
common stock and warrants on the NASDAQ under the tickers "TALK"
and "TALKW," respectively.
About Talkspace
Talkspace is a leading virtual
behavioral healthcare company enabled by a purpose-built technology
platform. As a digital healthcare company, all care is delivered
through an easy-to-use and fully encrypted web and mobile platform,
consistent with HIPAA and other state regulatory requirements.
Today, the need for care feels more urgent than ever, and when
seeking treatment, whether it's psychiatric, adolescent, or couples
therapy, Talkspace offers treatment options for almost every need.
With Talkspace, members can send their dedicated therapists text,
video, and voice messages anytime, from anywhere, and engage in
live video sessions. As of May 2021,
over 2 million people have used Talkspace, and over 55 million
lives were covered for Talkspace through insurance and employee
assistance programs or other network behavioral health paid benefit
programs.
For more information about Talkspace commercial relationships,
visit https://business.talkspace.com. To learn more about online
therapy, please visit https://www.talkspace.com/online-therapy.
About Hudson Executive Investment Corp.
Hudson Executive Investment Corp. is a Special Purpose
Acquisition Company formed by Hudson Executive Capital LP (HEC),
Douglas L. Braunstein, and
Douglas G. Bergeron. Mr. Braunstein
is founder and co-managing partner of HEC and the former CFO and
vice chairman of JP Morgan. Mr. Bergeron is co-managing partner of
HEC and the former chairman and CEO of VeriFone, Inc. For more
information, visit: https://hudsoninvestcorp.com/.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
This press release relates to a proposed transaction between
Talkspace and HEIC. This press release does not constitute an offer
to sell or exchange, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or
exchange, any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities
in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or exchange would be
unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any such jurisdiction. HEIC has filed a
registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC, which includes a
document that serves as a prospectus and proxy statement of HEIC,
referred to as a proxy statement/prospectus. A proxy
statement/prospectus will be sent to all HEIC shareholders. HEIC
also will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction
with the SEC. Before making any voting decision, investors and
security holders of HEIC are urged to read the registration
statement and the related proxy statement/prospectus (including all
amendments and supplements thereto) and all other relevant
documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC in connection
with the proposed transaction as they become available because they
will contain important information about the proposed
transaction.
Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free
copies of the registration statement, the proxy
statement/prospectus and all other relevant documents filed or that
will be filed with the SEC by HEIC through the website maintained
by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
The documents filed by HEIC with the SEC also may be obtained
free of charge at HEIC'S website at
https://hudsoninvestcorp.com/investors or upon written request to
Hudson Executive Investment Corp., 570 Lexington Avenue, 35th
Floor, New York, NY 10022.
Participants in Solicitation
HEIC and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to
be participants in the solicitation of proxies from HEIC's
shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. A list of
the names of such directors and executive officers and information
regarding their interests in the business combination is contained
in the proxy statement/prospectus. You may obtain free copies of
these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to
the proposed transaction between Talkspace and HEIC, including
statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the transaction,
the anticipated timing of the transaction, the services offered by
Talkspace and the markets in which it operates, and future
financial condition and performance of Talkspace and expected
financial impacts of the transaction (including future revenue, pro
forma enterprise value and cash balance), the satisfaction of
closing conditions to the transaction, the PIPE transaction, and
the level of redemptions of HEIC's public shareholders. These
forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words
"believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend,"
"strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should,"
"will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result,"
and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are
predictions, projections and other statements about future events
that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a
result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could
cause actual future events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not
limited to: (i) the risk that the transaction may not be completed
in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price
of HEIC's securities, (ii) the risk that the transaction may not be
completed by HEIC's business combination deadline and the potential
failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline
if sought by HEIC, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to
the consummation of the transaction, including the approval of the
merger agreement by the shareholders of HEIC, the satisfaction of
the minimum trust account amount following redemptions by HEIC's
public shareholders and the receipt of certain governmental and
regulatory approvals, (iv) the lack of a third party valuation in
determining whether or not to pursue the Business Combination, (v)
the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that
could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, (vi)
the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on
Talkspace's business relationships, performance, and business
generally, (vii) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts
current plans and operations of Talkspace, (viii) the outcome of
any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Talkspace or
against HEIC related to the merger agreement or the proposed
transaction, (ix) the ability to maintain the listing of HEIC's
securities on The Nasdaq Stock Market, (x) the risk that the price
of HEIC's securities may be volatile due to a variety of factors,
including changes in the competitive and highly regulated
industries in which HEIC plans to operate, variations in
performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations
affecting HEIC's business and changes in the combined capital
structure, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts,
and other expectations after the completion of the proposed
Business Combination, and identify and realize additional
opportunities, and (xii) the risk of downturns in the highly
competitive telehealth and teletherapy markets. The foregoing list
of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the
foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described
in the "Risk Factors" section of HEIC's Registration Statement on
Form S-4 discussed above and other documents filed by HEIC from
time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other
important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events
and results to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put
undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Talkspace and
HEIC assume no obligation and do not intend to update or revise
these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise. Neither Talkspace nor
HEIC gives any assurance that either Talkspace or HEIC will achieve
its expectations.
For Media: John Kim | jkim@skdknick.com |
310.997.5963
For Investors: Bob East / Jordan Kohnstam |
TalkspaceIR@westwicke.com | 443.213.0500
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SOURCE Talkspace