I have been trying to figure out why Sheldon Inwentash is still on the board since he no longer controls Pinetree shares.
POET’s Corporate Governance… By-Law #1
3.2 Qualification. No person shall be qualified to be a director if he is less than eighteen years of age; if he is of unsound mind and has been so found by a court in Canada or elsewhere; or if he has the status of a bankrupt. At least 25 per cent of the directors shall be resident Canadians.
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Canadian
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US
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Gone
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Peter Copetti;
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Adam Chowaniec;
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Sheldon Inwentash;
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Ajit Manocha;
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John F. O'Donnell;
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Dr. Samuel Peralta;
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Dr. Geoff Taylor;
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Chris Tsiofas.
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There does not appear to be any kind of urgent reason for maintaining Sheldon’s board position but my guess is that a big shuffle is coming. The company is on record as wanting greater US representation and I would expect that at least one board member would be appointed from any company taking a stake in POET (Sheldon’s replacement). As it stands right now if Sheldon leaves then a US CEO plus 6 non Canadian board members can be appointed while maintaining the 25% Canadian resident rule. If Sheldon plus one other Canadian director leaves this would leave room for the US CEO plus one non-Canadian director for a total of 8 board members which is the same number of board members from the last AGM.
As per the Jan 8 NR:
CEO search update
Poet recently announced that Ajit Manocha, co-chairman, had been appointed to the corporate governance and nominating committee, subject to board approval, with the mandate to identify and consider candidates for the permanent chief executive officer role. Mr. Manocha noted: "Several high-quality candidates are being considered. We hope in the near term to identify Poet's permanent CEO who will continue the process technology development and help us close key industry partnership deals. We look forward to identifying the right successor."
In addition, over the next few months, the company intends to add directors, key executives and operational staff focusing on increasing Poet's presence in the United States.
