Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL) (NASDAQ:PLL) (OTCMKTS:PDDTF) has added governance and operational experience to the board with the appointment of two new non-executive directors – Claude Demby and Susan Jones.
This move follows the retirements of long-serving directors Anastasios Arima and Levi Mochkin.
Experience to help guide organisation
Board chairman Jeff Armstrong said: ‘We are extremely fortunate to have individuals with the leadership and operating experience of Claude and Susan join our board.
“Their relevant executive and governance backgrounds will play a key role in helping guide our organisation as the demand for electric vehicles and lithium hydroxide rapidly increases in the United States and around the world.”
“Exceptional” governance experience
As president of Cree LED, a Smart Global Holdings Inc company, Piedmont said Demby brought ‘exceptional’ governance experience through his current services as chair of the governance and nominating committee and director on the board of Brown Capital Management Fund Trust.
Previously, he was director on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Charlotte branch, including chairman from 2012 to 2017.
Demby also has extensive executive and operational leadership expertise, having served as CEO and director of the Noël Group as well as president and chief operating officer at L&L Products after beginning his career in engineering roles with Procter & Gamble and GE Plastics.
Armstrong continued: “Claude's work leading the LED Products business at Cree, developing technologies and services that have a broad environmental, social and governance impact will be extremely valuable to Piedmont given our focus on serving the electric vehicle market, which will play a critical role in helping reduce the world’s carbon footprint.”
Valuable legal experience
Jones spent 15 years of her career at Nutrient Ltd, a multi-billion-dollar global mining and agricultural enterprise.
Her most recent role prior to retirement in 2019 was serving as executive vice president and CEO – Potash, the world’s largest underground soft rock miner.
Jones has a wealth of board experience, having advised boards of NYSE publicly traded companies Agrium and Nutrien as an executive.
She is currently serving on the board of TC Energy, a $50 billion market cap NYSE company as well as Arc Resources.
Jones brings valuable legal experience combined with operating responsibilities over the course of her career with roles ranging from chief legal officer to managing director of European Operations and several other critical leadership positions.
Armstrong added: “Susan’s experience leading a global, vertically integrated commodity company, combined with her extensive background in a variety of operational roles at Nutrien will be an asset to Piedmont Lithium as we look to expand our business in the future.”
Appreciation of vision and contributions
PLL chief executive officer Keith Phillips said: “As we welcome Susan and Claude, it is difficult to express how much we will miss and appreciate the vision and contributions that Taso and Levi brought to our organisation to help us get to this point as a company.
“We would not be here without them.”