AbitibiBowater, Montreal, Que., Canada, announced this past week that nine individuals have been selected to serve, along with current Board Chairman Richard B. Evans and President and CEO David J. Paterson, on a newly constituted board of directors. The term of this new board will begin when the company's Plans of Reorganization receive creditor approval and confirmation by the U.S. and Canadian Courts, and the company emerges from creditor protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in Canada.
The designated non-executive chairman of the board will be Richard B. Evans, continuing AbitibiBowater's current governance practices of having a non-executive serve as chair and a majority of independent directors. The following directors will join Richard Evans and David Paterson on the new board:
Pierre Dupuis (Sutton, QC) is a board member of Norbord Inc. and Brookfield Renewable Power Fund. Previously, Dupuis was VP and COO of Dorel Industries Inc. Prior to his appointment at Dorel, he was president and COO of Transcontinental Inc. and a senior executive with Domtar Inc.
Richard Falconer (Toronto, Ont., Canada) is vice chairman and managing director of CIBC World Markets Inc. He joined Wood Gundy in 1970 and previous roles include financial analyst, director of research and co-head of Investment Banking. Falconer is a board member of the Bridgepoint Health Foundation and chair of its Campaign Cabinet Committee.
Richard Garneau (Montreal, Que.) has been a director of AbitibiBowater since June 2010. Garneau most recently served as president and CEO of Catalyst Paper Corp. Prior to his tenure at Catalyst, he was executive VP, Operations at Domtar. He also held a variety of roles at Norampac, Copernic.com, Future Electronics, St. Laurent Paperboard, Finlay Forest Industries, and Donohue Inc.
Jeffrey Hearn (Bluffton, S.C., USA) retired from International Paper in April 2009 where he served as an officer and held various general business management and technology management positions in the U.S. and Brazil. Prior to his return to the U.S. with International Paper, Hearn was president and CEO of Weldwood of Canada. He was chair of the Paperboard Mfg. and Converting Section of the American Forest Products Association, and former vice-chair of the Forest Products Association of Canada. He was also Industry CEO representative for the B.C. Forest Products Forest Practices Reform Initiative.
Sarah Nash (New York, N.Y., USA) is a board member and head of the Audit Committee of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and director of Knoll Inc., where she serves on the Compensation and Audit Committees. Nash is also a director of Blackbaud Inc. and serves on its Nominating and Governance Committee. In August 2005, she retired as vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Investment Bank, where she was responsible for many of the firm's client relationships. Prior to these responsibilities, she was the regional executive and co-head of Investment Banking for North America.
Alain Rheaume (Outremont, Que.) is a managing partner at Trio Capital Inc. Most recently he was EVP and president of Fido, with Rogers Wireless—a role he assumed when Microcell was acquired by Rogers. With Microcell Telecom, Rheaume was president and COO and previously served as chief financial officer of Microcell Telecommunications Inc. Previously, he was associate deputy minister of finance from 1987 to 1992 and deputy minister of finance from 1992 to 1996 in the Quebec Government. Rheaume currently serves on the Canadian Public Accounting Board and the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Paul Rivett (Toronto, Ont.) has been a member of the AbitibiBowater board of directors since April 2008. He has been VP and chief legal officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited since 2004 and also serves as VP and COOr of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. He was an attorney at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Toronto, before joining Fairfax in 2004. Rivett serves on the boards of Mega Brands Inc. and The Brick Group Income Fund.
Michael Rousseau (Oakville, Ont./Montreal, Que.) has been executive VP and CFO of Air Canada since October 2007. Previous to Air Canada, he was president of Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC). Prior to Joining HBC in 2001, he held senior executive financial positions at other large international corporations, including Moore Corp. in Chicago, Silcorp Ltd and the UCS Group (a division of Imasco Ltd). Rousseau currently serves on the board of Consumers' Waterheater Income Fund.
David Wilkins (Greenville, S.C.) was nominated by President George W. Bush to become the U.S. Ambassador to Canada in 2005, a position he held until Jan. 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Wilkins practiced law for 34 years in Greenville and has extensive experience in civil litigation and appellate practice. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1980 and served 25 years, culminating in his service as Speaker of the House. Wilkins is currently a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and chairs the Public Policy and International Law practice group. He also serves on the board of Porter Airlines.
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