May 08 2000
Icron Systems Inc.
CDNX:ICM
VANCOUVER, British Columbia –Icron Systems, Inc. (the “Company”) announced today that it has appointed Mats Gerschman as President and CEO of the Company. Mr. Gerschman brings a wealth of experience gained from executive positions at two highly successful international telecommunications firms and an emerging, fast growing Internet company.
Mr. Gerschman recently served as President & COO of Bfound.com, a private company in the field of wireless location services over the Internet. Over a short time period, Mr. Gerschman defined the company’s strategy, developed the operational plan and started executing on this plan for future growth. Bfound.com was acquired in April, 2000 by a strategic partner and U.S.-based worldwide leader in mobile location services.
Prior to Bfound, Mr. Gerschman spent 11 years from 1987 to 1998 as a senior executive responsible for operations and manufacturing at Glenayre Electronics Ltd. (NASDAQ:GEMS:) and its predecessors. Mr. Gerschman played a critical role in the development of Glenayre from a modest niche player with $15 million in revenue to a global leader in the wireless equipment industry with over $600 million in revenue and a market capitalization in excess of $3 billion. In his last position as Senior Vice-President Operations and Manufacturing, he managed over 900 employees and had overall responsibility for manufacturing, finance, supply chain management and quality and process improvement.
Prior to joining Glenayre, Mr Gerschman spent 12 years with Ericsson in a series of progressively more responsible positions. Mr Gerschman participated in the establishment of Ericsson’s first North American operations in Texas in the mid 1980’s. Mr Gerschman holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden and an Executive MBA from the CEDEP, Business School in Fountainebleau, France.
Kelly Edmison, Company Chairman, commented “We are delighted to have attracted a senior executive and strategist of Mats’ caliber. We were searching for a leader with the right combination of technical skills, international experience, vision and personality to take Icron to the next stage. We believe that Mats is exactly the right person.”
Mats Gerschman commented, “I joined Icron because I believe the Company has an exciting opportunity to take a leadership position in a huge market. I am very impressed with the Icron team and the technology it has developed over the past two years. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to build a great company and to deliver extraordinary value to our shareholders.”
Mr Gerschman replaces Interim CEO Dirk Schillebeeckx who has completed his mandate to transition the Company to a funded, debt free company with a complete research and development team, a developed product and a clearly identified market.
Kelly Edmison commented, “Dirk has carried out his turn around mandate with a fast track, professional and efficient approach. The Board congratulates him on his outstanding performance. On behalf of all of the Shareholders, I would like to thank Dirk and his partner David Smith for a job well done.”
Icron has agreed to grant to Mr. Gerschman options to purchase 1,000,000 common shares of the Company at a price of $1.20 per share. These options vest over a four year period and are subject to shareholder approval.
Icron Systems is a world class USB technology and solutions provider. The inventors of ExtremeUSB technology, Icron has developed a means of extending the range of USB connections from 16 feet (five meters) to over 300 feet (100 meters). With patents pending, the Company is integrating this technology into a series of products for PC users. Icron has established the ExtremeUSB Team of companies to increase the total market for USB products by enabling a broad set of new applications based on ExtremeUSB. Icron is a publicly traded company and trades under the symbol ICM on the Canadian Venture Exchange. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada. More information can be found on the company’s web site at www.icron.com.
Note: The company relies on litigation protection for “forward-looking” statements. The Canadian Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release – including, without limitation, statements regarding production estimates and future plans and objectives of Icron – are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.