VANCOUVER, British Columbia-Sierra Wireless Inc.’ board of directors said it is separating the roles of chair and chief executive officer and replacing the lead independent director position with a non-executive chair position.
Peter Ciceri, the company’s lead independent director since 2002, has been selected as chair, responsible for the overall leadership and effectiveness of the board and will be the board’s primary liaison with management. David Sutcliffe, the company’s current chair and CEO, will become president and CEO.
Sierra Wireless said the changes reflect the evolution of corporate governance best practices.
Separately, Sutcliffe announced that he plans to retire at the end of this year. He will continue to serve as a director of the company after his retirement as CEO. The board plans to conduct a comprehensive search process to select the next CEO and has engaged the executive search firm SpencerStuart to assist with this process. The company expects to name its next CEO later this year.
In addition, the amendment to Sierra Wireless’ stock option plan was approved by the company’s shareholders. The amendment provides that the maximum number of common shares of the Corporation issuable under the plan will be 10 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares from time to time.
