Rainy Day Investments Ltd. (RDI), the principal shareholder of DavidsTea Inc. (NASDAQ: DTEA), announced that at the request of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee of the board of directors of DavidsTea, it has submitted a slate of eight nominees to the Committee for election as the board of directors of DavidsTea at its forthcoming annual meeting of shareholders, which RDI expects will be held in June.
RDI holds approximately 46% of the issued and outstanding shares of DavidsTea.
RDI nominees led by Herschel Segal, co-founder of DavidsTea and President of RDI. it is expected that Segal will be appointed as Chairman of the board of directors of DavidsTea.
The other nominees are: M. William Cleman, a corporate director and consultant; Pat De Marco, President of Viau Foods Inc.; Emilia Di Raddo, President of Le Château Inc., current director of DavidsTea; Dr. Ludwig Max Fisher, a retired professor with an interest in holistic nutrition and herbal medicine; Dr. Peter Robinson, until recently CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation and prior thereto CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op; Lorenzo Salvaggio, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of RDI; and Roland Walton, former President of Tim Horton’s Canada. Each of Herschel Segal and Lorenzo Salvaggio was until recently, a director of DavidsTea.
Herschel Segal stated “This is a slate of quality candidates with a common vision for DavidsTea and with the competencies and experience necessary for a turn-around of the company, for the benefit of all DavidsTea shareholders. I am confident that the members of the slate share my belief in the company and its future. We think eight is an appropriate size for the Board of DavidsTea at the present time. Six of our eight nominees are independent of RDI and a majority of our nominees will be independent directors of DavidsTea.
“As I previously said, I have every confidence that the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and Board of Directors of DavidsTea will endorse our slate of nominees and that our slate will appear in the management information circular that DavidsTea will prepare for the annual meeting of shareholders. Our nominees are ready to take office at the annual meeting, if not sooner,” Segal concluded.
DavidsTea’s current board consists of Maurice Tousson (Chairman), Joel Silver, Emilia Di Raddo, Gary O’Connor, Kathleen C. Tierney, Michael J. Mardy, Tyler Gage.
Joel Silver, President & CEO of DavidsTea, is not nominated and RDI did not disclose any planned changes to management.