AOJ E-NEWS:Tiffany & Co. is set to induct three new independent directors on its Board pursuant to an agreement between it and JANA Partners LLC – who together with Francesco Trapani owns approximately 5.1% of Tiffany's outstanding shares. The new directors are: Roger Farah, Co-Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of Tory Burch LLC; James Lillie, former Chief Executive Officer at Jarden Corporation; and Francesco Trapani, former Chief Executive Officer at Bulgari and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the LVMH Watches and Jewelry Division. The appointments are to take effect no later than March 6, 2017, the Company said. With the addition of the new directors, the strength of Tiffany’s Board will go up from 10 to 13 members.

Apart from joining the Board, Trapani will also be part of the Board's nominating and corporate governance committee; and the search committee set up earlier to oversee the Company's search for a new Chief Executive Officer. “The search committee is being assisted by a leading executive search firm,” Tiffany revealed.

“Tiffany also announced that the Company will be limiting waivers under the retirement age provisions in its governance documents, such that, in accordance with the mandatory retirement age, one current director will not stand for re-election at the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and two current directors will not stand for re-election at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders,” a news release from the Company stated.

"We are excited to be adding such distinguished directors to our Board as part of our ongoing process to refresh the Board, and we are pleased to have worked cooperatively with JANA Partners to have met our objective," said Michael J. Kowalski, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Interim CEO. "These three new directors are all accomplished executives with a broad range of relevant experience and skills that will benefit all shareholders as we focus on accelerating the execution of our core business strategies. We also believe the strength of our Board will be an asset in our ongoing CEO search process. I look forward to completing that process and welcoming our new CEO to our Board and, after an appropriate period, I anticipate being able to relinquish my responsibilities as Chairman to a successor."

Barry Rosenstein, Managing Partner of JANA Partners, commented, "We are very pleased to have worked constructively with Tiffany & Co. to appoint Roger, James and Francesco to the Board. Their fresh perspective and unique insight will be invaluable as the Board keeps working to improve performance and create shareholder value.

Courtesy: Reuters