20 May 2009 07:00
Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs, Wednesday 20th May 2009
Toumaz Holdings Limited (`Toumaz Holdings' or the `Company') Board Changes
Toumaz Holdings, the niche investor specialising in ultra-low power wireless infrastructure technologies with strong commercial propositions for the healthcare and electronic sectors, is pleased to announce further changes to the Board, following Sir Richard Sykes' appointment as executive chairman of the Company (announced 15th May 2009). The appointments acknowledge that as Toumaz Holdings' primary investments Toumaz Technology Limited (`Toumaz Technology') and Future Waves UK Limited (`Future Waves') rapidly move towards their next growth phase, from being predominantly research and development stage companies to commercially operational businesses, it is imperative to place prominent and appropriate individuals on the Board with relevant senior executive and market sector experience to better counsel and facilitate the management of Toumaz Holding's product commercialisation.
The new executive Board structure, which is applicable with immediate effect, comprises Sir Richard Sykes FRS as executive chairman, Professor Christofer Toumazou FRS as chief executive officer (formerly executive director), and Patrick Stephansen, a director at Future Waves and Toumaz Technology, as chief financial officer.
Newly appointed non-executive directors are Dr Hossein Yassaie, who is chief executive officer of Imagination Technologies Group plc (`Imagination'); Dr. Martin Knight, the chief operating officer of Imperial College London and chairman of Imperial Innovations Group plc; Dr. Winston Wong, chief executive officer of Grace T.H.W. Group; Dr. Ian McWalter, currently president and chief executive officer of CMC Microsystems; and Serge Grisard (previously executive director of Toumaz Holdings).
In conjunction with these appointments, Guy Spelman, formerly chief executive officer at Toumaz Holdings, and Philippe Tischhauser, non-executive director have stepped down from their positions with immediate effect. The Board would like to thank both Guy and Philippe for their valuable contributions in the development of the Group and we wish them success in their future ventures.
Short biographies of the Directors are below:
Current Directors
Sir Richard Sykes FRS, Executive Chairman
Sir Richard Sykes FRS has over 30 years of extensive senior executive expertise, particularly from the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Sir Richard served as chairman and chief executive of Glaxo plc which ultimately became GlaxoSmithKline plc from 1993 until 2002.
Other notable positions:
* 2001-2008 Rector of Imperial College, London * Fellow of Imperial College School of Medicine * Fellow of King's College London * Fleming Fellow at Lincoln College Oxford * Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences * Chairman of the UK Stem Cell Foundation * Chair of CATALYST, London's Council for the Advancement of Science and Industry * Chair of the WHO International Advisory Board (oversees the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) * Chairman of the Singapore Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council * Director of Bio*One Capital (investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board) * Member of the International Advisory Panel of Temasek, (which owns and manages the Singapore Government's direct investments)
Professor Christofer Toumazou FRS, Chief Executive Officer
Professor Chris Toumazou FRS, an executive director of Toumaz Holdings, will assume the role of chief executive officer (part-time). Professor Toumazou is co-founder of the Group's two investment companies: Toumaz Technology and Future Waves and has been instrumental to the design and development of the technologies owned by the two companies. He currently is chairman and chief technology officer of Toumaz Technology and chairman of Future Waves, in addition to being founding director and chief scientist at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College, London. Professor Toumazou is an advisor to many healthcare panels, including the Singapore Government in the field of medical devices. He is a senior Advisor to the Board of Grace Semiconductor in Taiwan, one of the largest semiconductor foundries in the world, and a member of the UK foresight committee on a report for infectious diseases as well as a member of the UK MOD Defence Strategic Advisory Committee on critical technologies. Professor Toumazou is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He also received the 2007 Silver Medal of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering for pioneering contributions to British Industry
Serge Grisard, Non-Executive Director
Mr. Grisard has been with the Company since 2005. Mr. Grisard, a former engineer with NASA (Houston, Texas) and Pechiney, has worked in numerous Healthcare multinationals including Siemens Medical, Pfizer Hospital Products (as director of strategy for Europe and global product manager). He has also worked in a medical corporate finance capacity with KPMG Strategy Consulting and KPMG's European Life-Sciences Group. Since 2003, Serge has held managing director positions in Swiss-based international private equity investment companies.
New Board Appointments:
Patrick Stephansen, Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Stephansen has over twenty-five years experience as an investment manager working for renowned financial services businesses including: Hambros Bank and Scandinavian Bank. After joining the Mosvold Farsund Group, a substantial Norwegian privately owned investment and shipping group, Mr. Stephansen directed for 14 years the group's non-Norwegian investment activities, focusing on technology, engineering (oil & gas, renewable energy), healthcare and transport. Mr. Stephansen oversaw venture and private equity to funds and listed securities and held positions on numerous fund boards. Mr. Stephansen also served as chief executive officer of Glastad Invest Group, a major private Norwegian investment company, for four years. Having a close relationship with Imperial Innovation Group plc, the commercialisation unit of Imperial College, London, since 2000 Mr Stephansen is a director of Toumaz Technology and Future Waves.
Dr. Hossein Yassaie Ph.D., Non-Executive Director
Dr. Hossein Yassaie, PhD, is the chief executive officer of Imagination Technologies, a leading provider of System-on-Chip (SoC) silicon IP whose technologies power many of the advanced and new generation mobile phones, personal media players, ultra low-power PCs/mobile internet devices (MIDs), digital radios, TV's and automotive navigation and information devices. Imagination Technologies is also the parent of PURE Digital, the leading global digital radio supplier. After attaining his PhD, Dr. Yassaie was a research fellow at the University of Birmingham with extensive work on digital signal processing and high performance system architectures. Prior to joining Imagination Technologies in February 1992, he was with STMicroelectronics and Inmos for eight years (since 1984), where he set up and managed the DSP and digital video developments. At Imagination Dr. Yassaie initially held the position of technical director, before becoming chief executive officer in June 1998. He has been responsible for the company's successful strategy which has seen it develop and market advanced, low-power and market-driving technologies in the key areas of 3D graphics, digital video and display, programmable communications and embedded processing. He was also responsible for launching, in 2001, PURE Digital, the world's leading manufacturer of DAB and internet digital radios and the entity behind the market leading PURE brand, as a wholly owned division of Imagination.
Dr. Martin Knight, Non-Executive Director
Dr. Knight has been chief operating and finance officer of Imperial College London since October 2004 and is additionally chairman of Imperial Innovations Group plc, the College's AIM-listed technology transfer company. Dr Knight was previously a director with Morgan Grenfell & Co Ltd.. He advised and acted for a number of major public and private companies on project and corporate finance transactions and on financial strategies. Dr Knight leads overall financial strategy as a member of the Imperial College's Management Board and Council. Dr. Knight, previously chairman of the Council's Finance and Investments Committees, has been a distinguished member of the College's governing body since 1994.
Dr. Winston Wong, Non-Executive Director
Dr. Wong is the principal founder of semiconductor Grace T.H.W. Group, where he serves as chairman and chief executive officer as well as the founder of Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation GSMC, Shanghai China. Dr. Wong is also the founder of TrustMart, a hypermarket chain store in China. Dr. Wong founded Nan Ya Technology, a leading DRAM manufacturing company in Taiwan. Dr. Wong spent time as a visiting professor at HASS Business School, part of the University of California, Berkeley and was a founding dean and professor of Chang Gung College of Medicine and Technology, Taiwan. Dr. Wong is an Imperial College alumnus, and is a Visiting Professor at the Institute due to his major contributions to semiconductor physics. Dr. Wong, a co-founder of Future Waves also sponsors the Imperial College's Chair in Biomedical Circuits, held by Professor Toumazou. He was awarded one of the first DSCs from Imperial College in 2007 by her Majesty the Queen.
Dr. Ian McWalter, Non-Executive Director
Dr. McWalter is currently the President and CEO of CMC Microsystems. He has over 30 years of leadership and managerial experience in the semiconductor and electronics industry. He was also the chairman of CMC from 1993 to 2005. Dr. McWalter spent 15 years at Gennum Corporation, including five years as President and CEO from April 2000 to November 2005. Previously, Dr. McWalter held a number of management positions with Bell Northern Research (now Nortel Networks) from 1978 to 1991. Dr. McWalter currently sits on the Board of Directors of Evertz Technologies, a Canadian public company providing HDTV products for the broadcast industry. In addition, he regularly reviews research grant applications for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Dr. McWalter received his BSc (Honours) Physics in 1972 and his PhD Electrical Engineering in 1977 from Imperial College.
Dr. Richard Sykes, executive chairman of Toumaz Holdings, commented:
"I am delighted to welcome so many illustrious experts to our Board. Arguably, our new Directors have among them the most senior executive experience in the electronic and healthcare sectors, as well as having proven entrepreneurial acumen in their own right.
I believe our Board is now significantly reinforced and is a reflection of the exciting commercial opportunities Toumaz Technology and Future Waves are presenting to attract such talent. In addition, the authority and contribution from seasoned key professionals highlights the robust presence we are forging for ourselves in our target markets. We anticipate the wisdom and insight of our new directors will elevate Toumaz Holdings to a prime position in our markets as our truly innovative products enter commercialisation and transform the market they will operate in."
AIM Rules Disclosures
Disclosures required by the AIM Rules are set out in the appendix to thisannouncement. -Ends- For Further Enquiries:
Patrick Stephansen Toumaz Holdings Tel: +44 (0) 7979 77879
Limited Charles Cunningham FinnCap Tel: +44 (0) 207 600 1658 Vikki Krause Hansard Group Tel: +44 (0) 7515 922906 Appendix
AIM Rules Schedule 2 Disclosure - for the purposes of paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM rules, the following information is disclosed:
Full name: Dr. Hossein Yassaie
Age: 53
Dr. Yassaie holds or has held the following directorships with the last 5 years:
Current Directorships Past Directorships over last 5 years Imagination Technologies Group Plc Frontier Silicon (Holdings) Limited Imagination Technologies Limited PURE Australasia PTY LTD (non-UK) Imagination Technologies Inc (non-UK) Imagination Technologies KK (non-UK) Videologic GmbH (non-UK) Imagination Technologies India Private Limited (non-UK)
AIM Rules Schedule 2 Disclosure - for the purposes of paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM rules, the following information is disclosed:
Full name: Dr. Ian Lindsay McWalter
Age: 58
Dr. McWalter holds or has held the following directorships with the last 5years:Current Directorships Past Directorships over last 5 years Toumaz Technology Limited Gennum Corporation CMC Microsystems (Canada) Information Technology Association of Canada DMT Microsystems (Canada) Canadian Microelectronics Corporation Future Waves UK Limited Burlington Economic Development Corporation
Evertz Technologies Limited (Canada) Gennum UK Genum Japan KK
AIM Rules Schedule 2 Disclosure - for the purposes of paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM rules, the following information is disclosed:
Full name: Patrick Stephansen
Age: 57
Mr. Stephansen holds or has held the following directorships with the last 5years:Current Directorships Past Directorships over last 5 years Toumaz Technology Limited Tailwind Shipping Limited Future Waves UK Limited Nanoscience Inc.
Anchor Capital Advisors (UK) LTD DNA Electronics Limited
SCPF General Partner Limited Partner Capital One LLP PC Spine LLP PC World Challenge LLP PC Fibre LLP PC Sensium LLP
AIM Rules Schedule 2 Disclosure - for the purposes of paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM rules, the following information is disclosed:
Full name: Dr. Winston Wong
Age: 58
Dr. Wong holds or has held the following directorships with the last 5 years:
Current Directorships Past Directorships over last 5 years HLH Group Limited (Singapore) Grace T.H.W. Group
AIM Rules Schedule 2 Disclosure - for the purposes of paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM rules, the following information is disclosed:
Full name: Dr. Martin Peter Knight
Age: 50
Dr. Knight holds or has held the following directorships with the last 5 years:
Current Directorships Past Directorships over last 5 years Imperial Innovations Group Plc Toumaz Technologies Limited Cambridge Mechatronics Ltd (formerly 1 Integration Diagnostics Ltd Ltd) Merrycroft Ltd Imperial Activities Limited Multi-Brand Ltd Cheltenham Festivals Ltd Chrysalis VCT plc IC Consultants Limited
Dr Knight was a director of Brown Rock Limited which went into administrative receivership in July 2003 and of ETC Holdings Limited which was liquidated in 2003.
There are no other disclosures required to be made pursuant to paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.
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