Allied Minds has appointed Jeff Rohr as chairman, continuing its reshuffle following the departure of Jill Smith earlier this month.
Jeff Rohr (pictured) will take over as chairman at commercialisation firm Allied Minds as part of a board revamp intended to drive the company’s new strategic direction, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
Rohr, currently an independent non-executive director, will succeed the outgoing chairman Peter Dolan on June 28, the day of Allied Minds’ annual meeting.
Independent non-executive director Kevin Sharer will also stand down to be replaced by his peer on the board Harry Rein, while Fritz Foley, another independent non-executive director, will take over Rohr’s position as chairman of the audit committee.
Rohr was appointed to the board in 2014. He currently serves on the board of governors at Florida State University’s College of Business and chairs the audit committee of payment services firm American Express’s National Bank subsidiary, while also serving as a board director at instant messaging translation company ChatLingual.
The appointment means Allied Minds will have fresh perspective at board and executive level as it realigns its portfolio strategy amid cost-cutting demands from its activist investor Crystal Amber.
Michael Turner and Joseph Pignato, previously general counsel and chief financial officer respectively, now lead Allied Minds as co-chief executives following the departure of Jill Smith earlier this month.
The firm, which has paused additions to its portfolio and is expected to exercise restraint in existing businesses, has also been affected by the turmoil at investor Woodford Investment Management, which has forced the latter to sell 5% of its shareholding.
Rohr said: “Allied Minds is at an inflection point, with a new leadership team and strategy. We are narrowing our focus to a limited number of portfolio companies and aggressively controlling costs.”
Dolan added: “Allied Minds has a new strategy, new leadership primed to execute the strategy, and some very promising companies backed by both strategic and financial investors.”
– Image courtesy of LinkedIn
