UrtheCast is Looking for its Third CEO this Year

Credit: UrtheCast.

It’s been a difficult start to the year for Vancouver based UrtheCast. Today the company announced that Greg Nordal would be resigning as interim CEO.

The press release issued by UrtheCast said that Nordal “decided not to extend his three-month term as Interim CEO and to resign as Interim CEO and member of the board of directors of UrtheCast (the “Board”) effective as of May 29, 2018.”

UrtheCast stated it was “in advanced stages of a CEO search and will provide a progress update in due course.”

This comes a day after announcing it had that its brokered private placement proceeds from escrow had been released and that it was adding Mark Piegza and Adam Vore to the Board of Directors of UrtheCast. Both join the board as a result of helping to facilitate the UrtheDaily secured credit facility.

UrtheCast also announced today that board members Tye Burt and Letitia A. (Tish) Long were resigning.

They also announced that two new nominees were being put forward for shareholders, Andreas M. Georghiou and John (Jack) Shannon.

Should the board be elected as UrtheCast hopes it would include the following six people;

  • William M. Evans (director since June, 2013)
  • James Topham (director since May, 2015)
  • Mark Piegza  (director since May, 2018)
  • Adam Vore (director since May, 2018)
  • Andreas Georghiou
  • John (Jack) Shannon

The vote for the updated board will be held at the annual and special shareholder meeting scheduled for  June 25, 2018 in Vancouver.

UrtheCast provided bio’s on the new board members and prospective board members.

Mark Piegza has over 25 years of investment banking and advisory experience in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. Mr. Piegza is the founder and President of Convergence Advisors LLC, an advisory firm serving clients in the telecommunications, media, and technology industries, and the co-founder, Chief Financial Officer and a director of U.S. Space LLC, which offers a broad portfolio of dedicated, commercial space solutions, including MilSatCom, mobile communications and in-orbit servicing. Previously, Mr. Piegza was a Managing Director in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group at Banc of America Securities from 2002 until 2007 where he had global responsibility for the satellite sector. Prior to joining Banc of America Securities, Mr. Piegza held senior positions at UBS’s Media Group, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Credit Suisse First Boston, in each case with a focus on the satellite, media and telecom industries.  Mr. Piegza holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois.

Mr. Vore is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group of Seaport Global. Mr. Vore brings numerous years of experience in Investment Banking. Prior to Seaport Global, Mr. Vore was a Managing Director at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and, prior to that, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He has received numerous industry awards, including Deal of the Year from The Banker magazine and Most Innovative Deal of the Year from Marine Money. Mr. Vore holds an MBA in Investment Banking from Wake Forest University.

Andreas Georghiou has over 30 years of experience at various senior executive positions, most of them in the satellite industry, including as Chief Executive Officer of Spacenet, Inc., Member of the Management Committee of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Chief Commercial Officer (responsible for Sales and Marketing) and Senior Vice-President, Asset Management of SES Americom and Senior Vice-President for Global Satellite Services, General Electric. He is also a former Chairman of the Board at Dunmore Corporation, presently serves as CEO of Andreas Pallas Consulting Inc., and provides advisory services to boards of telecommunication and technology companies and investment companies. He has an M.S. degree in Operations Research from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Sc. from the same University in Statistics and Mathematics. He is a Fulbright Scholar and was a teaching assistant in the Wharton MBA program.

John (Jack) Shannon is a New York attorney who for the past 14 years was a Managing Director and Head of Compliance for Investment Banking and Capital Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Previously, he was the head of Equity Capital Markets Compliance at UBS and worked in Merrill Lynch’s Litigation and Regulatory Law department as well as its Investment Banking Counsel’s office. Jack received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Fordham University School of Law.

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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