Management changes at ComnetiX, new board member named
12 January, 2006
category: Biometrics, Contactless, Financial
Canadian biometric provider ComnetiX has announced several management changes, including a new chief executive officer, Bernard Crotty. The company also lost its chief financial officer. Both open positions are the result of the two officers accepting jobs with other firms.
TORONTO– ComnetiX Inc, a leading provider of biometric identification and authentication solutions, announced today that its Chairman of the Board, Bernard Crotty, will become the Company’s Chief Executive Officer on or before January 31, 2006. He will replace James P Scullion who has resigned to accept an offer to become CEO of a Nasdaq-traded, Silicon Valley-based technology company.
Scullion will remain on the Board of ComnetiX and will work closely with Crotty in an advisory capacity. Crotty has served as ComnetiX Chairman and a director since January 2004; he is also Chairman of Certicom Corp, a TSX-listed company.
The Company also announced that the Company’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Zahavich has resigned, effective January 13, 2006, to return to a previous employer as CFO. The Company has initiated a search for a new CFO and until that position is filled, ComnetiX controller Javed Abbas will oversee day-to-day financial operations.
“The vision and strategic plan put in place by Jim is fully supported throughout the Company and has established the foundation for our future growth,” Crotty said. “We are very fortunate that Jim will remain on our Board and be a key advisor to the Company. I will also turn to Ed Escubedo, our founder, President and COO, and the management team put in place by Jim, to help me execute the strategic plan we have adopted.”
“Thanks in large part to the work of Jim and Tim, the Company’s fundamentals, and accounting practices are solid,” Crotty added. “Our market opportunity remains healthy as does our ability to compete in this dynamic industry. We wish them the best as they pursue their respective opportunities.”
Scullion stressed that leaving ComnetiX will be difficult, but an important consideration for him was to be closer to his California home. “I have the utmost confidence in the team we have assembled at ComnetiX. This was not an easy decision for me as I believe wholeheartedly in ComnetiX, its products and its opportunities. I am convinced that the Company is well positioned as a market leader.”
In addition, the Board announced that it has appointed former long-time Motorola Inc executive, Walter Davis, to the ComnetiX Board, replacing Gilles Lamarre, who retired to spend more time with his family. Crotty said that based on Walt Davis’ four decades of work as a senior executive at Motorola, ComnetiX will look to him to provide his unique insight and guidance as the Company continues to implement its strategic plan to grow ComnetiX into a leading biometric technology solutions provider for North America.
“I’d also like to thank Gilles Lamarre for his valuable assistance and counsel and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” Crotty said. Before joining the Board of ComnetiX, Davis spent 39 years with Motorola Inc and last served as Senior Vice President; from 1996 through June of 2004, when he retired, he was Director of Advanced Consumer System Research Laboratories at Motorola Labs. Throughout his tenure, he held several progressively senior positions involved with the development of portable radio communications equipment, computer and security architectures and circuit applications.
Davis holds 77 issued patents in the fields of semiconductor and communications technology and was the recipient of four Motorola Sector and Group Patent of the Year awards. He has also served on two National Academy of Science Advisory Committees, and since March of 2005, Davis has served on the Board of Certicom Corp. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he holds an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Florida Atlantic University.
Crotty is also a Director of Dexit Inc, a provider of electronic payment services. Crotty was counsel to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles from April 1998 to March 2000; prior to April 1998, he was a partner with McCarthy Tetrault LLP in Toronto and London, England. Crotty earned a B. A. from the University of Alberta, an LL. B from the University of Toronto, an LL. M from the London School of Economics and an M. B. A. from Duke University.
About ComnetiX Inc. (www.ComnetiX.com)
ComnetiX Inc provides secure identification and authentication solutions to both the public and private sectors throughout North America. ComnetiX offers multimode biometric identification solutions for use in areas such as applicant screening, financial services, health care, transportation, airlines and airports, casinos and gaming, and energy and utilities. Clients include American Airlines, Lehman Brothers, New York City Health and Hospital Corporation, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, Toronto Police Services Board, Boston Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. ComnetiX is also Canada’s premier applicant fingerprinting services company, facilitating tens of thousands of criminal background checks each year through its chain of ten offices across Canada. In addition ComnetiX has established more than 40 applicant fingerprinting services locations throughout the United States.