Attached files
| file | filename |
|---|---|
| 8-K - METROPOLITAN HEALTH NETWORKS INC | v182101_8k.htm |
Exhibit
99.1
Contacts:
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Michael
Earley
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Al
Palombo
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|
Metropolitan Health
Networks
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Cameron
Associates
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Chief Executive
Officer
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Investor
Relations
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(561)
805-8500
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(212)
554-5488
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mearley@metcare.com
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al@cameronassoc.com
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METROPOLITAN HEALTH NETWORKS NAMES NEW
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CEO MICHAEL EARLEY APPOINTED CHAIRMAN
Company Looks Forward to an Exciting
Future with a New, High Caliber Director Team
WEST PALM BEACH, FL, April 26, 2010 – Metropolitan Health Networks,
Inc. (NYSE AMEX: MDF),
a leading provider of
healthcare services in Florida, today announced the appointment of six
new independent directors to the company’s board and the re-appointment of
Michael Earley, as the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. These changes followed the resignation of the company’s five
previous independent directors. The new board will be nominated for
re-election at the company’s 2011 annual shareholders’ meeting, expected to take
place in July. A Form 8-K was filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission earlier today and includes comprehensive information regarding the
board appointments.
“We are
honored to welcome our new directors who bring a wealth of business, strategic,
and healthcare acumen to help Metropolitan build on the strong foundation we’ve
built and take advantage of new opportunities in the rapidly changing healthcare
industry,” stated Michael Earley. “This board is truly representative
of the way we are shaping and positioning Metropolitan for continued success and
growth. The appointment of these six new directors will allow us to
benefit from an engaged group of professionals with diverse backgrounds,
knowledge and opinions. All of the appointees have held executive
leadership positions in various professional areas and bring valuable knowledge
from a variety of successful businesses. As I’ve stated in the past,
the next few years have the potential to be an exciting era for our company,
making it an ideal time to further enhance the depth and strength of our
leadership. The long term prognosis for senior focused healthcare
services is marked by both an increasing demographic and the need to innovate to
meet the increasing demands of this market. We have exceptional operational
management and financial expertise throughout the organization and, in
conjunction with this new board, I am confident that we will be able to continue
advancing our position as a leading healthcare services provider in the State of
Florida and beyond,” Earley concluded.
Our
New Directors:
Arthur
Kowaloff: Lead Independent Director and Governance & Nominating Committee
Member
Mr.
Kowaloff is currently President and Director of the PBP Foundation of New York,
a Director of the Orange County Capital Development Corporation and a member of
the Board of Directors of the Orange County Regional Medical
Center. Since 2004 Mr. Kowaloff has also been serving as a director
of Sirona Dental Systems, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed manufacturer of high-quality,
technologically advanced dental equipment. During his career he has
operated in the capacity of Managing Director of BNY Capital Markets, Inc, was
Chief Operating Officer and Senior Managing Director of Patricof & Company
Capital Corporation and was an attorney at the New York City firm of Willkie
Farr & Gallagher, where he served as Senior Partner and Executive Committee
Member and specialized in corporate and securities law and mergers and
acquisitions. Mr. Kowaloff received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton
College and holds a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.
John
Watts, Jr.: Governance & Nominating Committee Chairman and Compensation
Committee Member
Mr. Watts
has been a partner at John Watts Consulting, Inc. since January 2008, where he
provides management consultation, market development services and health care
system navigation support to start up and growth companies. Prior to
starting his consulting firm, Mr. Watts spent over 12 years at Wellpoint, Inc.,
one of the nation’s largest health insurers. He served in numerous
roles at Wellpoint during his tenure, including as President and Chief Executive
Officer of Wellpoint’s commercial and consumer business. He has also
served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Anthem national accounts,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, and
currently serves as member of the Board of Directors at CareCentrix, a privately
owned provider of home health benefits management services to the managed care
industry. He also served as Executive Chairman of Implantable
Provider Group, a privately owned company providing implantable device
management.
Richard
A. Franco, Sr.: Compensation Committee and Audit Committee Member
Mr.
Franco has been a leader in the pharmaceutical and medical industry for more
than 35 years and is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors, President
and Chief Executive Officer of DARA BioSciences, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed
biopharmaceutical development company. Since 2005 he has served in
several senior level executive and directorship capacities at
DARA. Prior to joining DARA Biosciences, he co-founded LipoScience,
Inc., a private medical technology and diagnostics company, and served as
president, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of that company. Mr.
Franco has also served as president, Chief Executive Officer and director of
Trimeris, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company. For over a
decade he was employed with Glaxo Inc. (now GlaxoSmithKline) where he served as
a member of the Executive Committee, Vice President and General Manager of Glaxo
Dermatology and the Cerenex Division and Vice President of Commercial
Development and Marketing. Since May 2000, Mr. Franco has served as a director
of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., a NASDAQ-listed specialty pharmaceutical
company. He also serves as Chapter President and Director of the
Research Triangle Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors
(NACD). Previously, he served as a director of TriPath Imaging, EntreMed, Inc.
and Tranzyme, Inc. Mr. Franco earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy
from St. John’s University and did his graduate work in pharmaceutical marketing
and management at Long Island University.
Michael
Cahr: Compensation Committee Chairman
Mr. Cahr
has been a general partner at Focus Equity Partners, a private equity investment
and management firm that acquires middle-market companies and assists them in
reaching their performance potential, since 2003. He has more than 30 years of
experience as a venture capitalist, Chief Executive Officer, and director of
public and private companies, which include C&M Pharmacy, where he
engineered the sale of the company to Walgreen Co. During his
career Mr. Cahr has acted as a board member and advisor to Business Only
Broadband, was president of Saxony Consultants, and Chief Executive Officer and
chairman of publicly held Allscripts, Inc., the leading developer of hand-held
devices that provide physicians with real-time access to health, drug and other
critical medical information. He has also operated in the capacity of venture
group manager for Allstate Venture Capital where he oversaw domestic and
international investments in technology, healthcare services, biotech and
medical services. Since January 2009, Mr. Cahr has served as a director of
MakeMusic, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed provider of music education
technology. He also has served since September 2002 as a director of
Pacific Health Laboratories, an OTCBB traded nutritional products firm that
develops and commercializes functionally unique nutritional products. Mr. Cahr
was also a director of Lifecell Corporation from 1989 to 2007 where he served as
the chairman of the audit committee.
Casey
Gunnell: Audit Committee Chairman and Governance & Nominating Committee
Member
Mr.
Gunnell has 38 years of broad business experience in entrepreneurial, startup,
troubled and rapid growth sales based companies. He is currently
serving as President and as a member of the Board of Directors of NeedleNurse,
Inc., a privately owned startup medical device company which he
co-founded. During his career he has served in several senior
level executive and advisory roles which include Managing Director of
Cornerstone Management, LLC, a private firm providing advisory, interim staffing
and project management solutions to distressed companies, President of Gunnell
Family Corp., a private firm focused on interim management solutions and as
interim Chief Executive Officer, President and as a director of Holiday RV
Superstores, inc. d/b/a/ Recreation USA, a NASDAQ-listed retailer of
recreational vehicles and marine products. He has also served as
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of PNV, Inc., a
NASDAQ-listed cable television, communications, broadband wireless, ISP and
portal to the trucking industry. Since April 2008, Mr. Gunnell has
served as a member of the Board of Directors of Enable Holdings, Inc., an
OTCBB-traded asset recovery solution provider. Mr. Gunnell earned a
Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Florida Atlantic
University.
Mark
Stolper: Audit Committee Member
Mr.
Stolper is currently the Chief Financial Officer of RadNet, Inc., a
NASDAQ-listed healthcare company, which is the largest owner and operator of
medical diagnostic imaging centers in the United States. Prior to
RadNet, Mr. Stolper was a partner at Broadstream Capital Partners and West Coast
Capital, Los Angeles-based investment banking firms focused on advising middle
market companies engaged in financing and merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Stolper began his career as a member of the corporate finance group at
Dillon, Read and Co., Inc., executing mergers and acquisitions, public and
private financings and private equity investments with Saratoga Partners LLP, an
affiliated principal investment group of Dillon Read. After Dillon
Read, he joined Archon Capital Partners, which made private equity investments
in media and entertainment companies. Mr. Stolper received his
operating experience with Eastman Kodak, where he was responsible for business
development for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging subsidiary ($1.5 billion in
sales). Since May 2007, Mr. Stolper has served on the Board of Directors of
CompuMed, Inc., a publicly-traded medical informatics and software
company. Mr. Stolper graduated magna cum laude from the University of
Pennsylvania and received a finance degree from the Wharton School. Mr. Stolper
also holds a postgraduate award in Accounting from UCLA.
About Metropolitan Health Networks,
Inc.:
Metropolitan is a growing health care
organization in Florida that provides comprehensive health care services for
Medicare Advantage members and other patients in South and Central Florida. To
learn more about Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. please visit its website at
www.metcare.com.
Forward
Looking Statements:
Except
for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release
are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting
the generality of the foregoing, words such as “may”, “will”, “to”, “plan”,
“expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “could”, “would”, “estimate”, or
“continue” or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology
are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Investors
and others are cautioned that a variety of factors, including certain risks, may
affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially from those set
forth in the forward-looking statements. These risk factors include,
without limitation, (i) our ability to meet our cost projections under various
provider agreements with Humana; (ii) our failure to accurately estimate
incurred but not reported medical benefits expense; (iii) pricing pressures
exerted on us by managed care organizations and the level of payments we
indirectly receive under governmental programs or from other payors; (iv) future
legislation and changes in governmental regulations; (v) the impact of Medicare
Risk Adjustments on payments we receive for our managed care operations; and
(vi) a loss of any of our significant contracts or our ability to increase the
number of Medicare eligible patient lives we manage under these contracts. The
Company is also subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009.