Actor George Clooney has been named an executive boardmember of a new environmentally-friendly Swiss energy company that is being setup by Swatch Group Chairman Nicolas Hayek, the Associated Press reported thisweek.
The firm, currently unnamed, is meant to reduce carbondioxide emissions in energy consumption by developing environmental techniquesfor car motors and other devices. According to AP, Hayek told the dailypublication Berner Zuitung that he had to decide between Clooney and formerVice President Al Gore to join in on the venture, but chose Clooney because itremains unclear whether Gore will run as a presidential candidate.
Clooney will sit on the board along with Swiss astronautClaude Nicollier and others. It isunknown when the new company will be launched.
CarMax, Inc., the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, announcedtoday that its board of directors has elected Shira D. Goodman, executive vice presidentof marketing at Staples, Inc., and Ronald E. Blaylock, founder, chairman andCEO of Blaylock & Company, Inc., to serve on the board.
Goodman, who joined Staples in 1992, has held a variety ofpositions of increasing responsibility in general management and marketingprior to her promotion to executive vice president in 2001. Under that role, she is responsible for thestrategic, creative, operational an financial aspects of all Staples’marketing, advertising, public relations and charitable giving programs.
Blaylock, who launched Blaylock & Company in 1993, wasappointed non-executive chairman in 2007 when the company was acquired byRobert Van Securities, Inc. Blaylock hasprevious experience holding senior management positions with PaineWebber andCitigroup.
Plug Power, Inc., has announced that Roger Saillant, who hasbeen president, CEO, and aboard member of the company, plans to retireeffective April 7, 2008. Saillantinformed the board of his direction during a routine meeting held on Oct.18.
As a result, the company’s board has appointed a searchcommittee to seek out a successor, comprising independent director and Chairmanof the board George C. McNamee; Maureen O’ Helmer, Esq., an independentdirector and chairman of the board’s corporate governance and nominatingcommittees; and Gary K. Willis, an independent director and chairman of thecompensation committee.
Dennis M. Oats has been appointed to the board of directorsat Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc., the company announced lastweek. Oats fills the independent boardseat left open by George Keane, who retired in May.
Oats most recently served as senior vice president of theSpecialty Alloys Operations of Carpenter Technology. At Universal Stainless, he will serve on eachof the committees on the four-member board, of which Oats brings with himextensive experience in the steel industry to the position of director.
Kennametal, Inc. has announced that the company’s presidentand CEO, Carlos Cardoso, has been elected to the board of directors at TheStanley Works, an S&P 500 company and supplier of tools and securitysolutions.
Cardoso, recently named one of the best CEOs in the capitalgoods/industrials category and machinery sector by Institutional InvestorMagazine, joined Kennametal in 2003. Previously, he held executive leadershippositions with Flowserve Corporation, and Honeywell/AlliedSignal.
Mary L. Cleave, a former associate administrator for NASA’sScience Mission Directorate, has been appointed to Sigma Space Corp.’s board ofdirectors.
A veteran of two space shuttles flights, Cleave flew aboardSTS-61B in 1985 and STS-30 in 1989, logging a total of more than 10 days inspace. She will be joining General(retired) John H. Hall and Thomas Bouchard as non-officer members of Sigma’sboard.