TORONTO, May 20, 2021 /CNW/ - Optiva Inc.
("Optiva" or the "Company") (TSX: OPT), a leader in
providing communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide with
cloud-native revenue management software, is pleased to announce
the nomination of four new independent directors for election to
its board of directors at its upcoming annual and special meeting
of shareholders to be held on June 22,
2021 (the "Meeting"): Pat
DiPietro, John Meyer,
Simon Parmar and Barry Symons.
Each of the new director nominees have strong backgrounds in
technology, software and finance, as well as a broad range of
public company executive and capital markets experience.
Anuroop Duggal, Dan Goldsmith, Lee
Matheson and Rob Stabile will
also be nominated for re-election at the Meeting, and Ryan Morris will continue with the Company as a
board observer. If all nominees are elected at the Meeting,
Optiva's board of directors would be comprised of eight directors,
all of whom would be independent.
"The new director nominees are all highly qualified with
impressive experiences and diverse backgrounds that will enhance
our Board and contribute to Optiva's growth strategy," said
Robert Stabile, Chair of the Board.
"We would also like to thank Demetrios
Anaipakos, Andrew Day, and
Graham Gow for their many
contributions to the Board, and are excited to have Ryan Morris remain involved with Optiva as a
Board observer."
New Director Nominee Biographies
Patrick DiPietro
Mr. DiPietro has 40 years' of experience with start-up and
disruptive technology companies. He was formerly the Senior
Vice President of the Integration Management Office at Infinera, a
role he held since October 2018 post
the Infinera acquisition of Coriant. He previously served as Chief
Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board at Coriant, having
created Coriant out of the founding companies of NSN Optical,
Tellabs and Sycamore in 2013. From 2012-2018 Patrick served
as Group President Telecom at Marlin Equity Partners working on
transactions in the technology space. Pat served on the board of
Elenion acquired by Nokia and was responsible for OpenWave Mobility
and OpenWave Messaging, serving on the boards until the companies
were acquired. In addition to launching several highly
successful networking products and start-up ventures, Mr. DiPietro
has held executive management and research and development roles in
leading telecommunications and technology companies, including
senior leadership roles at Nortel and Bell Northern Research.
Patrick previously served as Managing Partner at VG Partners, an
early stage VC firm, overseeing the company's Technology Fund. As a
venture capitalist, he managed a portfolio of more than 20 start-up
companies and sat on numerous boards, including those of Sandvine,
SiGe Semiconductor, Continuous Computing, BTI Systems, Neterion and
BelAir Networks. Mr. DiPietro earned a B.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from Queen's University, and has completed master's
courses in Telecommunications Management from Carleton University.
John Meyer
John A. Meyer has over 40 years
of leadership experience with large publicly traded organizations
and building high growth organizations in both the United States and internationally. John
was the Executive Chairman of Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., a
leading virtual Work at Home solutions company, until its
successful sale/exit to Warburg Pincus in December 2019. John joined Arise as CEO in 2011
to drive the organization's growth, set the strategic vision and
manage the global operations of the business. In 2013, he was
selected as Mid-Market CEO of the year by CEO Connections. Prior to
joining Arise in 2011, John served as Chief Executive Officer and
President of Acxiom Corporation, a $1.1
billion global interactive marketing services company with
more than 6,500 employees. Previously, he served as President of
the Global Services group of Alcatel-Lucent for five years, where
he was responsible for more than $6
billion in annual revenue and the management of more than
20,000 people. Prior to joining Lucent, he spent almost 20 years in
a number of high-profile positions at EDS, including Chairman of
the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Operating Team, President of
Diversified Financial Services and Credit Services Divisions, and
CIO for the company's GMAC business. John's global, multi-industry
experience at EDS was marked by numerous successes, including
doubling revenue in EMEA from $3.6
billion to $7.2 billion in
four years. Before entering the business world, John served as an
ICBM flight commander and was selected as a captain in the U.S. Air
Force. He holds an MBA in Quantitative Methods with honors from the
University of Missouri and a BS in
management from Pennsylvania State
University.
Simon Parmar
Simon Parmar has over 20 years of
experience in professional services, management consulting, and
executive roles. He has spent the past 15 years as a
President and Chief Financial Officer primarily in growth-oriented
technology companies including Constellation Software Inc. and
Softchoice. As President, Simon held profit and loss
responsibility for businesses with up to $40
million revenue, successfully growing earnings and improving
overall results in each case. As CFO, Simon managed finance, legal,
and technology for businesses with over $1
billion revenue. In both capacities, he played a lead
role building shareholder value generating a 2x to 6x multiple of
invested capital. Throughout his career, he has held primary
responsibility for facilitating effective board and audit committee
meetings and developed an international perspective having lived
and worked in North America and
Europe with significant
operations, acquisition and integration experience on both
continents. Simon began his career with KPMG and was a management
consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. He holds an MBA
from the University of Western Ontario
and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA).
Barry Symons
Barry Symons has served as the
Chief Executive Officer of the Jonas Operating Group since
August 2007 (one of 6 operating
groups that make up Constellation Software Inc.). Prior to this
appointment he held numerous roles of increasing responsibility
with Constellation Software Inc. spanning the period from 1997 till
2007 culminating in his appointment as the Chief Financial Officer
of Constellation Software Inc. from 2004 to 2007. Before joining
Constellation Software Inc., Mr. Symons was with a major
international accounting firm in varying roles of increasing
responsibility. Mr. Symons holds a Chartered Accountancy
designation and a BBA (Honours) degree from Wilfrid Laurier University both of which were
received with distinction.
Further information about each of the director nominees and
incumbent directors will be contained in the Company's management
information circular for the Meeting, copies of which will be
mailed to the Company's shareholders and filed under Optiva's SEDAR
profile at www.sedar.com.
About Optiva
Optiva Inc. is a leading provider of mission-critical,
cloud-native revenue management software for the telecommunications
industry. Its products are delivered globally on the private and
public cloud. The Company's solutions help service providers
maximize digital, 5G, IoT and emerging market opportunities to
achieve business success. Established in 1999, Optiva Inc. is on
the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: OPT). For more information, visit
www.optiva.com.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and
forward looking information within the meaning of applicable
securities laws, including, without limitation, statements
regarding the election of the director nominees to the Company's
board of directors at the Meeting. Often, but not always,
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words
such as "plans", "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected",
"budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends",
"anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or describes
a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might"
or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. There is no assurance
that any forward-looking statements will materialize. Risks that
could cause our results to differ materially from our current
expectations are discussed in the Company's annual information form
dated March 31, 2021 and management's
discussion and analysis in respect of the three months ended
March 31, 2021. The Company disclaims
any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking
statements, except as required by law, even if new information
becomes available, as a result of future events or for any other
reason.
SOURCE Optiva Inc.