Element Fleet Management Corp. announced the appointment of Jay Forbes as its new Chief Executive Officer and a significant refresh of the company’s board of directors that includes the planned addition of four new independent directors.
Forbes' appointment is effective June 1. The announcement follows a comprehensive CEO search process undertaken by the board and its external advisors, in which both internal and external candidates were considered. Until June 1, Dan Jauernig will remain Acting CEO and will then resume his responsibilities as President and Chief Operating Officer of Element. Along with the rest of the executive leadership team at Element, Jauernig will ensure continuity and smooth onboarding for Mr. Forbes.
“Jay Forbes has a demonstrated track record of success for helping organizations understand and realize their full potential. His skills and experience will be invaluable to us as we look to realize the promise inherent in the global fleet management platform that Element has created over the past seven years,” said The Hon. Brian Tobin, P.C., O.C., Chairman of the Board. “Combined with the addition of four new, highly qualified independent directors to bolster the expertise of our Board, this represents a tremendous step forward in Element’s evolution.”
Forbes is a proven business leader who has brought a fresh strategic perspective to a variety of industry settings to create immediate and lasting value for investors, customers and employees. With a deep passion for serving customers, he brings operational expertise, strong financial acumen and a firm grasp of technology.
“Element is a truly remarkable company, having gone from concept to global leadership in the fleet leasing and service industry in seven short years,” Forbes said. “I am truly looking forward to working with my new colleagues to strengthen our current customer offerings such that we continue to grow with them in the years to come. Accordingly, we will use the next few months to better understand how we can further strengthen our business model and refine our strategies to the benefit of our customers and investors.”
Most recently, from 2015 to 2017, Forbes was President and CEO of Manitoba Telecom Services, where he designed and executed a customer-centric strategy that created $1.1 billion in shareholder value. Similarly, Forbes made a significant impact during his tenure as President and CEO of Teranet Inc., a developer, operator and owner of electronic land registration systems, where he developed an information services growth strategy to yield billions in high-margin revenues.
His other leadership roles included President at Ingram Micro Inc., where he successfully restructured the business to improve profitability at the onset of an economic recession, and President and CEO/CFO at Aliant Inc., where he repositioned the business to become the second largest regional telecom services provider in North America, delivering $2 billion in shareholder value. In the past, Forbes has also served as CFO at real estate and energy companies. Forbes holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Nova Scotia (FCPA, FCA), and has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors program. He is a director at Economical Insurance and previously was a director at MTS, Stratos Global Corporation and Aliant Inc., in addition to a number of not-for-profit organizations.
Addition of 4 Independent Directors
Element also announced that as a result of agreements with some of the company’s significant shareholders, and Element’s own normal course board process to refresh the board, the company will undertake a reconstitution of its board that will result in eight of nine nominees at the 2018 Annual Meeting being independent of the company.
Rubin McDougal and Keith Graham, two independent directors, have been appointed to the board, effective immediately. McDougal brings extensive public company, finance, credit, logistics and financial reporting experience to the board. Graham has extensive business and investment and asset management expertise.
The company also announced that it will nominate for election at the 2018 Annual Meeting two additional independent directors, Andrew Clarke and Alexander Greene. Clarke and Greene each have strong backgrounds in transportation services, logistics and finance, as well as a broad range of public company executive and board-level experience.
Forbes will also join the board immediately.
As a result, the Company intends to nominate a slate of the following nine individuals for election to the Board at the 2018 Annual Meeting.