Element Financial Corporation (“Element” or “the Company”) announced several changes to the Company’s board of directors aimed at bringing increased independence and a broader regional perspective to the work of the board and its committees.
In this regard, Element announced the appointment of Mr. Gordon D. Giffin, former US ambassador to Canada, to the Company’s board of directors. Ambassador Giffin will sit as an independent member of the board.
“As Element continues to expand its reach across the Canada/US border to provide vendor financing solutions to North American equipment manufacturers and their customer, we will benefit from having the perspective of a seasoned diplomat of Ambassador Giffin’s experience on our board of directors,” said
Steven Hudson, Element’s Chairman and CEO.
“Element Financial is very well positioned to enable businesses on both sides of the border to acquire the capital equipment they need to make meaningful and sustained contributions to the expansion of the North American economy,” said Ambassador Giffin. “I’m looking forward to supporting the Company’s continued success and growth.”
In addition to Ambassador Giffin’s appointment, the Company also announced that Dr. Steven Small, in addition to his role as Lead Director, has been appointed as Vice Chairman of the board of directors. Dr. Small has also been appointed to serve on the Audit Committee in addition to continuing to serve on the Credit Committee. As well as these changes, Mr. Paul Stoyan has been appointed as Chair of the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee and Mr. Harold Bridge has been appointed to the Credit Committee in addition to continuing to serve as Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Leslie E. Martin and Mr. Bruce Smith are not standing for re-election and will retire from the board of directors at the Company’s May 28th Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Smith will continue to provide strong leadership and operational direction to Element as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Canadian President.
“As one of the founding shareholders of Element, I want to pay a special tribute to Les Martin for the extraordinary contribution that he has made to the development of this Company,” said Mr. Hudson. “I am personally very grateful for the no-nonsense advice and insightful perspective that he always brought to our board meetings as we transformed Element from a small private company to a TSX-listed enterprise with a growing North American market presence,” added Mr. Hudson.
Subject to their election at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Element’s board of directors will be comprised of nine directors, eight of whom meet the criteria required to be designated as independent directors as defined under the Corporate Governance Guidelines published by the Canadian
Securities Administrators.
With total assets of approximately $1.5 billion, Element Financial Corporation is one of North America’s leading independent equipment finance companies. Element operates across North America in three verticals of the equipment finance market - Element Capital provides large ticket equipment leasing, Element Finance serves the mid-ticket equipment finance market and Element Fleet provides vehicle fleet leasing and management solutions through the Company’s TLS Fleet Management division.