Windstream Holdings Inc. announced two appointments to its board of directors Tuesday and said a director who has been on the board since 2006 will retire in February.
William LaPerch, who serves on the boards of Digital Realty Trust and Imation Corp., will serve on the board’s compensation committee, and Michael Stoltz, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a registered CPA, will serve on the audit committee, the telecommunications company said in a statement. LaPerch and Stoltz qualify as independent board members under Nasdaq requirements, the company said.
Stoltz succeeds Francis Frantz, who will leave the audit committee to become chairman of the board of the real estate investment trust Windstream is creating through a spinoff of certain telecommunications assets, set to be completed in the first quarter 2015, Windstream spokesman David Avery said.
The company also announced that Dennis Foster will retire from the board of directors in February. He has been a director at Windstream since 2006 and is a member of the compensation committee, Windstream said.
LaPerch will succeed Foster on the compensation committee, Avery said. Both men will serve on the committee until Foster's retirement in February.
LaPerch, 59, served as the president and chief executive officer of AboveNet Communications Inc., a bandwidth provider, until 2012. Before working for AboveNet, he was the president of network services and president of enterprise services for Metromedia Fiber Network, Windstream said.
Stoltz, 63, who was an audit partner with Ernst & Young since 2002, has about 40 years experience working with telecommunications, media and entertainment clients, Windstream said in its statement. He is also a part of the advisory council of SAMMinistries, a San Antonio-based homeless prevention services provider.
“[LaPerch’s] extensive telecom and technology background will be very beneficial in shaping our ongoing transformation strategy. [Stoltz] has provided sound financial advice and strategy to leading public telecommunications providers and his financial expertise uniquely positions him to join our audit committee,” Windstream President and CEO Jeff Gardner said in the statement.
Foster was the chairman of the board from February 2010 to May 2013, and was succeeded by Jeffrey T. Hinson, ArkansasOnline previously reported.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more.