Corporate Governance

I dont want to pass up this information before the web site goes down.

They have (had) extensive bios that I copied but first I summarize them

Nortel board of directors:

Harry Pearce - Chairman
Also on board of Marriott
Was on board of DirectTV and General Motors (Former GM Director? Now *that's* a resume!)

Jalynn Bennett
Also on board of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Also was a past Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission and was a member of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canadian Stock Exchange and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants' Joint Committee on Corporate Governance (The Saucier Committee). (So she'll really appreciate that I'm doing this blog)

James Hunt
former Governor of North Carolina

Kristina Johnson
Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University
On board of directors of Mineral Technologies Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, AES Corporation

John Alan MacNaughton
Former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Former President of Nesbitt Burns Inc., the investment banking arm of Bank of Montreal
Chairman of Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc.
He is a Governor of CCAF-FCVI Inc., a research and education foundation focused on governance, accountability, management and audit in the public sector. (Two good corporate governance types on a firm that is liquidating. Ummmmmmm)

John Manley
Director of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. (somebody else here also had that..... warning!)
Former member of Parliament for Ottawa South
Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
Former Minister of Finance
Former Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Public Security and Anti-Terrorism
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Former Minister of Industry

Richard McCormick
Director Wells Fargo (Double check Wells Fargo - this is a bad sign for them)
Director United Technologies Corporation (didnt i see that company not too long ago for this blog?)
Former CEO & Chairman of US WEST
Former director of UAL Corporation, the parent holding company and sole shareholder of United Air Lines, Inc. On December 9, 2002, UAL Corporation, United Air Lines, Inc. and 26 direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of UAL Corporation filed voluntary petitions to reorganize their businesses under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. (***WARNING - TWO BANKRUPTCIES ON THIS GUYS WATCH!!!!!*** - this guy clearly merits close close close examination!)

Claude Mongeau
Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of CN since October 2000. He leads CN's strategic planning process and he is responsible for the overall financial management of CN. (A good start to a resume where bankruptcy is involved!)

David Richardson
Chairman of the Board of Air Canada
Director ACE Aviation Holdings Inc
Former Executive Partner of Ernst & Young LLP
Former member of the Management and Executive Committees of Ernst & Young LLP
(shouldnt this guy know how to read accounting books?)


Mike Zafirovski
President & CEO Nortel
Former President & COO Motorola
Director at Boeing (How's that Dreamliner coming there coach?)




Now, the full monty:

Harry Pearce - Chairman
Harry Jonathan Pearce was Chairman of the Board of Hughes Electronics Corporation (now The DIRECTV Group, Inc.), a company engaged in digital television entertainment, broadband satellite and network services as well as global video and data broadcasting, from June 2001 to January 2004. He was a director and Vice Chairman of General Motors Corporation from January 1996 to June 2001. Mr. Pearce is also a director of Marriott International, Inc. and the lead director of MDU Resources Group, Inc.


Jalynn Bennett
Jalynn H. Bennett is President of Jalynn H. Bennett and Associates Ltd., a consulting firm in strategic planning and organizational development in both the public and private sectors. Prior to establishing that firm, Mrs. Bennett was associated for nearly 25 years with The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. Mrs. Bennett is currently a director of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited and Teck Cominco Ltd. She is also a director of The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. She is a member of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management Advisory Council, Richard Ivey School of Business; the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation; the Schulich School of Business and International Advisory Board, York University; the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts; the Toronto Association of Business Economists; the Governance Leadership Council of the Ontario Hospital Association; the National Advisory Board, Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year and a Member of the Trinity College Endowment Campaign Cabinet. She is a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors in Canada, a past Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission and was a member of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canadian Stock Exchange and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants' Joint Committee on Corporate Governance (The Saucier Committee).


James Hunt
The Hon. James B. Hunt, Jr. has been a member of the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, since 2001. Prior to that, he was Governor of North Carolina for four terms, 1977 to 1985 and 1993 to 2001, where he established the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina, the N.C. Biotechnology Center and the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics. He founded and chaired the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and currently chairs the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, and the Institute for Emerging Issues. Mr. Hunt is a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and is a director of BioSignia, Inc


Kristina Johnson
Dr. Kristina M. Johnson is the Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. She received her B.S., M.S. (with distinction) and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. After a NATO post-doctoral fellowship at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, she joined the University of Colorado-Boulder's faculty in 1985 as an Assistant Professor, promoted to full Professor in 1994. From 1994 until 1999 Johnson directed the NSF/ERC for Optoelectronics Computing Systems Center at University of Colorado and Colorado State University. She has published over 140 refereed papers and proceedings, and holds forty-three patents. Dr. Johnson received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1985), the IBM Faculty Award, and the Dennis Gabor Prize, for "creativity and innovation in modern optics" (1993), and the Photonics Spectra Circle of Excellence Award for her design of the 128 x 128 liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator (1994). Dr. Johnson is a recipient of the Colorado Technology Transfer Award by the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute (1997), the Council for Entrepreneurial Development Infrastructure Award in North Carolina (2001), was inducted into the Women In Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame (2003) and received the Achievement Award, the highest honor from the Society of Women Engineers in 2004. A fellow of the Optical Society of America, IEEE and a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Johnson is a director of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering. She has helped start several companies including founder of ColorLink, Inc. and sits on the Board of Directors of several publicly traded companies including Mineral Technologies Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, AES Corporation and Nortel (and is a former director of Guidant Corporation and Dycom Industries). Dr. Johnson currently serves on the advisory boards of the Colorado School of Mines, the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Engineering, the Duke Childrens' Classic, and the North Carolina Institute for Emerging Issues. She has previously served on the advisory committee to the NSF Engineering Directorate (Chair, 2003-04), Science Foundation Ireland, Smith College Pickering School, and Carnegie Mellon University.


John Alan MacNaughton
John Alan MacNaughton, C.M., served as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a Crown Corporation created by an Act of Parliament to invest the assets of the Canada Pension Plan, from 1999 until his retirement in 2005. He was President of Nesbitt Burns Inc., the investment banking arm of Bank of Montreal, from 1994 to 1999. Mr. MacNaughton is Chairman of Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc. He is a Trustee of the University Health Network, an academic health science centre. He is a Governor of CCAF-FCVI Inc., a research and education foundation focused on governance, accountability, management and audit in the public sector. Mr. MacNaughton is Chairman of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.


John Manley
The Hon. John P. Manley has been a senior counsel at the law firm of McCarthy Ttrault LLP since May 2004. Mr. Manley was previously the Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from November 1988 to June 2004 and Chairman of the Ontario Power Generation Review Committee, which was responsible for reviewing the state of the energy system of Ontario, from December 2003 to March 2004. As a Member of Parliament, Mr. Manley also held various positions in the Canadian federal government, including Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from January 2002 to December 2003, Minister of Finance from June 2002 to December 2003, Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Public Security and Anti-Terrorism from October 2001 to December 2003, Minister of Foreign Affairs from October 2000 to January 2002 and Minister of Industry prior thereto. Mr. Manley is also a director of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He was granted the designation C. Dir. (Chartered Director) by McMaster University in February 2006.


Richard McCormick
Richard David McCormick served as Chairman of US WEST, Inc., a telecommunications company, from June 1998 until his retirement in May 1999. He was chairman, president and chief executive officer of US WEST, Inc. from 1992 until 1998. He is also a director of HealthTrio Inc., United Technologies Corporation and Wells Fargo and Company. Mr. McCormick is also the Honorary Chairman (Past Chairman) of the International Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman (Past Chairman) of the United States Council for International Business. He is a Trustee of the Denver Art Museum, Vice President of the Denver Art Museum Foundation and Director Emeritus of Creighton University. From 1994 to 2003, Mr. McCormick was also a director of UAL Corporation, the parent holding company and sole shareholder of United Air Lines, Inc. On December 9, 2002, UAL Corporation, United Air Lines, Inc. and 26 direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of UAL Corporation filed voluntary petitions to reorganize their businesses under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.


Claude Mongeau
Claude Mongeau has been Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of CN since October 2000. He leads CN's strategic planning process and he is responsible for the overall financial management of CN.

He joined CN in May 1994 and has held the positions of vice-president, Strategic and Financial Planning, and assistant vice-president Corporate Development. He was appointed Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer in October 1999.

Prior to joining CN, Mr. Mongeau was a partner with Groupe Secor, a Montreal-based management consulting firm providing strategic advice to large Canadian corporations such as Bombardier and Bell Canada. He also worked in the business development unit of Imasco Inc., a diversified holding company with subsidiaries operating in the manufacturing retail and financial services sectors. His career started in Europe with Bain & Company, a leading American consulting firm.

In 1997, Claude Mongeau was named one of Canada's top 40 executives under 40 years of age by the Financial Post Magazine. In 2005, he was selected Canada's CFO of the Year by an independent committee of prominent Canadian business leaders.
Directorships
* Nortel Networks
* SNC-Lavalin
* Muse Pointe--Callire
* Forces Avenir

Education
* McGill University
* Institut Suprieur des affaires (France)
* University of Quebec in Montreal

Professional Experience
* Canadian National Railway Company
* Imasco Ltd.
* Groupe Secor Inc.
* Bain & Company (Paris)

Awards
* Canada'a CFO of the Year for 2005
* Canada's Top 40 under 40


David Richardson
David I. Richardson is a corporate director. He is Chairman of the Board of Air Canada and a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Mr. Richardson is the former Chairman of Ernst & Young Inc. (Canada) and a former Executive Partner of Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Richardson was also a member of the Management and Executive Committees of Ernst & Young LLP, national managing partner of the firm's Corporate Finance practice and the senior partner in the corporate recovery and restructuring practice until his retirement from the partnership in 2002.


Mike Zafirovski
Mike Zafirovski is president and chief executive officer of Nortel, a global leader in innovative communications and services that are enabling the transformation of businesses around the world.

Since joining Nortel in November, 2005, Zafirovski has drawn on his depth of global business expertise to drive sustainable business improvements that build on the company's innovative strength in new technologies that are bringing unprecedented levels of personalization, security and mobility to communications.

Zafirovski is a 30-year business veteran with impressive global experience at two of the world's highest profile corporate innovators - General Electric and Motorola.

Prior to his current role at Nortel, he was president and chief operating officer of Motorola, Inc. from July 2002 to February 2005 where he was a key player leading the company's re-emergence in innovation, market share gains and significant profitability improvements by all six businesses. Zafirovski joined Motorola in June 2000 to lead its mobile devices business, which during his tenure returned to profitability and increased market share through the introduction of exciting new products and the Moto branding campaign.

Before his leadership positions at Motorola, Zafirovski spent 25 years at General Electric (GE), including 13 years as president and chief executive officer of five businesses in the industrial, financial services and insurance businesses. Prior to that, he held a number of increasingly senior positions in finance, auditing, marketing and strategy/business development at various GE businesses.

In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Zafirovski to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). In its advisory role to the president, the NSTAC provides industry-based analysis and recommendations on a wide range of policy and technical issues related to telecommunications, information systems, information assurance, infrastructure protection, and other national security and emergency preparedness concerns.

As a presidential appointee to NSTAC, Zafirovski serves as a resource for the President and his national security team in efforts to safeguard critical U.S. infrastructure and telecommunications networks. In this capacity, Zafirovski participates in discussions on a broad range of policy and technical issues related to telecommunications, critical infrastructure protection, homeland security, and other security concerns.

Zafirovski holds a B.A. in mathematics from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania where he also captained the intercollegiate soccer and swimming teams. In 2002, Edinboro University awarded Zafirovski with an honorary doctorate degree. A native of Macedonia, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2004.

Zafirovski serves on the board of directors of Boeing. An active member of civic and business communities, Zafirovski serves on several professional, educational and non-profit business organizations, including The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, The Economic Club of Chicago and the Macedonian Arts Council. He and his wife Robin are the national chairs for Duke University's Parents' Committee. They have three sons.

It's probably the right move if you're that strapped, but who is THAT strapped?

Pacific Capital Bancorp(PCBC 3.39, +0.08, +2.42%) of Santa Barbara, Calif.,
Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida (SBCF 2.32, -0.27, -10.43%) Stuart, Fla.,
and Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. (MBHI 1.01, -0.07, -6.48%) of Melrose Park, Ill.

The PCBC board is pretty much local people, and there's been some turnover in the management ranks so I wont tar these people. But doesnt that look like a good stock to short.


SBCF hasnt had much management or board turnover, so I'm a bit more suspicious here.

Dennis S. Hudson III
Chairman
Also on board of Florida Public Utilities Corp (FPU)
He is also a member of the board of directors of the Miami Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. (eek!)

Dale M. Hudson
Vice Chairman

Stephen E. Bohner

Jeffrey C. Bruner

John H. Crane

T. Michael Crook
He was previously a member of Barnett Bank of Martin County’s Board of Directors for 11 years.
But you gotta love the name.

Hugh Gilbert Culbreth Jr.

Christopher E. Fogal

Jeffrey S. Furst
Mr. Furst was elected Property Appraiser for St. Lucie County, Florida in 2000. He has been a real estate broker since 1973 and is owner of Sun Realty, Inc. in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Now that's interesting. He's on the Board of the bank, The appraiser for the property, and the owner of a local realty! *DANGER WILL ROBINSON*

A. Douglas Gilbert

Dennis S. Hudson Jr.

Thomas E. Rossin
Lead Director

Thomas H. Thurlow Jr.

Edwin E. Walpole III


Wow - three Hudsons on the Board. Two with the first name too. Gee, what's the odds that happens without them all being related. Oh yeah, this board is looking out for shareholders.



Midwest Banc Holdings - I'm not going to name this board - they booted the old CEO and got in new blood.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Midwest-Banc-Appoints-Roberto-bw-957624383.html?x=0&.v=5