Several here have asked in private, so here is a public response to you and to other long-term TSIS fans.
Last Friday, I was privileged to sit in as an observer during the regularly-scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors for TSIS (9:30 AM to a little after 5 PM).
While I am under a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement, which limits my ability to recount the day in detail, I do think it is fair to say that I believe the company is in extremely good hands, Board-wise. I believe it a lot more so after having been a participant in this Board meeting.
The Board consists of three Directors: Don Cameron, Marc Goyette, and Rob (Robert) Wilson.
Rob, from Canada, has been around for a while ("been there; done that") ... graying like me ... and Marc, from Seattle, brings an encyclopedic knowledge of the telecommunication industry. Both bring common sense. Make no bones about it — these are smart guys.
It is clear to me that the Board has the best interests of the shareholders at heart — both those shareholders who make their presence known on the InterNet and those who do not.
It also is clear to me that the Board has Don's ear and is comfortable with giving him direction, which is as it should be.
My impression is that the two "outside directors" are considerably more independent than I had originally expected. This is not a rubber stamp board.
Both of them are bright, focused, straight shooters ... as well as renaissance men, able to discourse freely on a wide variety of topics. Lunch (a short walk to the local pizza joint) was great fun as we flitted from "why John (me) doesn't play any racquet sports" to "obscure films for the whole family to watch" to "the Parable of Heisenburg's cat" (a Physics conundrum) to "what physically limits how small chips can be constructed."
From the onset, they made it clear that my role was as a participant, not just as an audience of 1. My inputs were solicited and often formed the basis for further discussion. When the subject matter related to things which had occurred earlier in the life of the company or which built upon matters discussed in previous Board meetings, they carefully took the time to bring me up to speed before continuing the discussion.
There was no indication of "keeping score" and I would report that almost all items were decided ... eventually ... by consensus.
I was invited to participate in the full discussions of all agenda items except for one item covered by the NDA and a quantitative discussion of the July results, the last quarter results, and the preliminary FY results. During the day, we discussed a wide variety of strategic options, senior personnel matters, and (joy to my ears) the audit preparations and overall plans for the Annual General Meeting.
(Re the financial matters I was not involved with.... It is easy to be misinterpreted, so lest any paranoids leap to an incorrect conclusion that they were hiding any bad news from me, let me just state that the subsequent discussions during the meeting led me to have no concern about the financial results — i.e. probably somewhere about what we've been expecting all along; check with JJ for the party line.)
See you all at the Annual General Meeting!
JSb. |
