VANCOUVER -- Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSX: SW) held its Annual General Meeting today in Vancouver, British Columbia, where updates to the board of directors and management were announced.
The board announced that it is separating the roles of Chair and Chief Executive Officer and it is replacing the Lead Independent Director position with a non-executive Chair position. Peter Ciceri, the company’s Lead Independent Director since 2002, has been selected as Chair. In this non-executive Chair role, Mr. Ciceri will be responsible for the overall leadership and effectiveness of the board and will be the board’s primary liaison with management. David Sutcliffe, the company’s current Chair and Chief Executive Officer, will become President and Chief Executive Officer. These changes reflect the evolution of corporate governance best practices and will become effective on April 26, 2005.
“I am pleased to accept the role of Chair, and look forward to working closely with the board and management team to build upon the Company’s success,” said Peter Ciceri.
“I fully support the decision to separate the roles of Chair and CEO, and on behalf of the entire board, I congratulate Peter Ciceri on his new role as Chair,” said David Sutcliffe. “Peter has contributed significantly to the board as its Lead Independent Director since 2002, and his experience will continue to be a great asset to our team.”
Separately, David Sutcliffe announced that he plans to retire as President and CEO at the end of this year. Mr. Sutcliffe has served as the company’s CEO and as a director for 10 years. He will continue to serve as a director of the company after his retirement as CEO. The board plans to conduct a comprehensive search process to select the next CEO, considering both internal and external candidates, and has engaged the executive search firm SpencerStuart to assist with this process. The company expects to name its next CEO later this year.
Speaking at the AGM, David Sutcliffe said “It has been the highlight of my professional career to lead and build Sierra Wireless from a young company into its current position an industry leader in the wireless data space. I expect to remain fully engaged in the business until my successor is in place, and I intend to hand he or she the leadership of a company with a solid foundation, well positioned to go to the next level.”
“David has done an outstanding job building Sierra Wireless over the last ten years and the board accepts his decision and thanks him for contributions during this time,” said Peter Ciceri. “He has made a personal decision to retire as CEO and will continue to lead the management team until his successor is in place. The company has a very strong senior management team and the outside directors have over 25 years of collective service on the board. We fully expect that there will be continuity for our stakeholders through this leadership change.”
Sierra Wireless Inc.