Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. Announces Board Changes
Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has taken a range of Board refreshment actions, including naming Richard P. Lavin to succeed Thomas W. Rabaut as Lead Independent Director effective as of the date of the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. Additionally, four new independent directors, Philip J. Christman, Sasha Ostojic, Gustave F. Perna and Krishna Shivram, have been appointed to the Board, effective immediately. Finally, four directors, including Rabaut, will retire from the Board and not stand for re-election at the 2023 annual meeting. These actions will increase the size of the Board to fourteen directors until the 2023 annual meeting. Allison also announced that four existing directors, Stan A. Askren, Alvaro Garcia-Tunon, Chair of the Audit Committee, Thomas W. Rabaut, outgoing Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Richard V. Reynolds, prior Chair of the Compensation Committee, will serve out their current terms but will not stand for re-election at the 2023 annual meeting. Thomas W. Rabaut has informed the Board that he will not stand for re-election at the 2023 annual meeting. Rabaut has served on the Board for fifteen years and has served as the Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee since 2012. The Board has named Lavin to succeed Rabaut as Lead Independent Director effective as of the 2023 annual meeting. Rabaut will assist in the transition until his retirement. As part of its director succession and refreshment process, the Board has appointed four new independent directors to fill the Board positions that will be vacated by four retiring directors at the 2023 annual meeting. The Board appointed Philip J. Christman, former President, Operations of Navistar International Corporation, as an independent director of the company, effective immediately. The Board also appointed Christman to the Board’s Audit and Compensation Committees. The Board appointed Sasha Ostojic, Venture Partner at Playground Global LLC, as an independent director of the company, effective immediately. The Board also appointed Ostojic to the Board’s Finance Committee. The Board appointed Gustave F. Perna, former retired General, United States Army, as an independent director of the company, effective immediately. The Board also appointed Perna to the Board’s Audit Committee. The Board appointed Krishna Shivram, former Chief Executive Officer of Sentinel Energy Services, Inc., as an independent director of the company, effective immediately. The Board also appointed Shivram to the Board’s Audit and Finance Committees. Mr. Shivram will succeed Alvaro Garcia-Tunon as Chair of the Audit Committee effective as of the date of the 2023 annual meeting. In addition to Rabaut, Stan A. Askren, Alvaro Garcia-Tunon and Richard V. Reynolds are retiring from the Board effective as of the 2023 annual meeting. Following the 2023 annual meeting, the Board will return to ten members. Christman recently retired as President, Operations of Navistar, Inc., a leading manufacturer of commercial trucks, buses and engines, a role he held from May 2017 until March 2022. In this role, he was responsible for all Navistar operations encompassing engineering, manufacturing, procurement and quality. He began his career with Navistar in 1986 and held various management positions of increasing responsibility in operations, engineering, procurement and strategy. Christman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Ball State University. Ostojic is a Venture Partner at Playground Global LLC, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage deep tech companies, a role he has held since April 2019, and serves as Interim Senior Vice President of Software at Zoox, Inc., a developer of autonomous vehicles, a role he has held since November 2021. Prior to these roles, he served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Cruise LLC, a self-driving car company, from October 2016 until November 2017 and as Vice President of Software for Nvidia Corporation, a pioneer in accelerated and AI computing, from March 2011 until October 2016. Ostojic has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from San Francisco State University and a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University. General, United States Army (retired) Perna retired from the United States Army in July 2021 as the Chief Operating Officer of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s multi-billion-dollar coronavirus vaccine and treatment effort, a position he had held since May 2020. Prior to that, General Perna served as Commanding General of United States Army Materiel Command, which develops and delivers materiel readiness solutions for the Army’s land force capabilities, from September 2016 to May 2020 and as Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 of the Army, with responsibility for oversight of the policies and procedures used by all Army logisticians globally, from 2014 to September 2016. During his 38 years of service in the United States Army, General Perna held many other staff and command assignments, including Commander, Joint Munitions Command and Joint Munitions and Lethality Lifecycle Management Command, Commander, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Commander, 64th Forward Support Battalion and Commander, 4thSustainment Brigade. General Perna holds an Associate Degree in Business Administration from Valley Forge Military Academy and a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland and was awarded a Master’s Degree in Logistics Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Shivram currently serves as Director of Ranger Energy Services Inc. since August 2017 and of Superior Energy Services Inc. since April 2021, both of which are oilfield service companies, as well as Director of Sentinel Energy Services Inc., a special purpose acquisition company, since November 2017. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of Sentinel from November 2017 until December 2020. Prior to that, Shivram served as interim Chief Executive Officer of Weatherford International plc from November 2016 to March 2017 and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Weatherford International plc from November 2013 until November 2016. He has over 30 years of financial and operational management experience in the oilfield industry and previously worked for Schlumberger Ltd. in a variety of roles across the globe, including as Vice President and Treasurer from January 2011 until November 2013. Shivram has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Commerce from Sydenham College in India and is a Chartered Accountant.
