Santa Clara, Calif., — November 13, 2017 – Avaya Holdings Corp. (Avaya, or “the Company”) has announced the members selected to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors (the Board) upon its emergence from chapter 11 as a public company.
Subject to confirmation and consummation of the Company’s Second Amended Plan of Reorganization (the Second Amended Plan), the post-emergence Board will consist of the following Directors:
- Jim Chirico is Avaya’s current President and Chief Executive Officer and formerly its Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Avaya, he served as Executive Vice President of Global Operations, Development and Manufacturing for Seagate Technology, a publicly-traded provider of electronic data storage technologies and systems.
- Ronald A. Rittenmeyer is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Tenet Healthcare, a diversified health care services company. Previously, Mr. Rittenmeyer was the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Data Systems, a leading global provider of information technology services, business process outsourcing and applications services. He also serves as a Director on the Boards of American International Group, QuintilesIMS and Tenet Healthcare.
- Stephan Scholl is the President at Infor, a privately held provider of enterprise software products and services. Prior to Infor, he was the President and Chief Executive of enterprise software provider Lawson Software and helped lead Lawson’s merger with Infor in 2012. Mr. Scholl has also held various leadership roles at Oracle Corporation.
- Susan L. Spradley is a Partner in the Tap Growth Group, a senior executive consulting firm focused on helping new ventures and Fortune 500 companies drive growth. Previously, Ms. Spradley served in multiple senior executive roles at Viavi Solutions (formerly JDSU Corporation). She also serves as a Director on the Board of Qorvo, a publicly-traded global provider of radiofrequency systems and semiconductor technologies.
- Stanley J. Sutula III is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pitney Bowes, a publicly-traded business-to-business provider of equipment, software and services. Prior to Pitney Bowes, Mr. Sutula held the roles of Vice President and Controller and also Vice President and Treasurer at IBM.
- Scott D. Vogel is the Managing Member of Vogel Partners LLC, a private investment firm. Mr. Vogel also serves as a Director on the public company Boards of Arch Coal, Key Energy Services and Bonanza Creek Energy. Previously, Mr. Vogel was a Managing Director at Davidson Kempner Capital Management from 2002 to 2016.
- William D. Watkins was most recently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Imergy Power Systems, a privately held energy storage solutions company. He also serves as a Director on the Boards of FLEX LTD., an electronics design manufacturer, and Maxim Integrated Products, a manufacturer of linear and mixed-signal integrated circuits. Earlier in his career he served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Seagate Technology from 2004-2009.
“These highly accomplished executives have knowledge and experience highly relevant to the markets in which we compete,” said Mr. Chirico. “In addition, their strong and diverse mix of business skills and industry insights will help position Avaya for long-term success as a public company and grow shareholder value. I look forward to drawing on their expertise upon emergence.”
The current Board of Directors is expected to remain in place until the new Board assumes its responsibilities upon emergence from chapter 11. A hearing to consider confirmation of Avaya’s Second Amended Plan by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is scheduled to commence on November 28, 2017.
About Avaya
Avaya enables the mission critical, real-time communication applications of the world’s most important operations. As the global leader in delivering superior communications experiences, Avaya provides the most complete portfolio of software and services for contact center and unified communications— offered on premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid. Today’s digital world requires communications enablement, and no other company is better positioned to do this than Avaya. For more information, please visit www.avaya.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding the Chapter 11 Cases
The Company’s security holders are cautioned that trading in securities of the Company during the pendency of the Company’s chapter 11 proceeding will be highly speculative and will pose substantial risks. It is possible some or all of the Company’s currently outstanding securities may be cancelled and extinguished upon confirmation of a restructuring plan by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. In such an event, the Company’s security holders would not be entitled to receive or retain any cash, securities or other property on account of their cancelled securities. Trading prices for the Company’s securities may bear little or no relation to actual recovery, if any, by holders thereof in the Company’s chapter 11 proceeding. Accordingly, the Company urges extreme caution with respect to existing and future investments in its securities.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains certain “forward-looking statements.” All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking” statements for purposes of the U.S. federal and state securities laws. These statements may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," “our vision,” "plan," "potential," "preliminary," "predict," "should," "will," or “would” or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing of exit from the chapter 11 proceeding, technology innovation and operational projections. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control. These factors are discussed in Avaya Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Company’s filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. The Company cautions you that the list of important factors included in Avaya Inc.’s SEC filings may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this report may not in fact occur. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
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Investor Inquiries:
Peter Schuman
669-242-8098
pschuman@avaya.com
