Board Member Bios
Stephen B. Hughes
Age 56
Stephen B. Hughes has been our chairman of the board, chief executive officer and a director since our inception in May 2005. Mr. Hughes served as the sole officer and director of Hughes Consulting, Inc. from 2004 to 2007. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Hughes served as a director of The Cambridge Group, a leading demand strategy consulting firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. While with Cambridge, Mr. Hughes led or participated in securing new marketing strategy engagements with a number of major consumer packaged goods companies. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Hughes served first as vice president of sales and then as the senior vice president of marketing and sales for White Wave Foods Company, a division of Dean Foods Company. In June 2004, Mr. Hughes was also named senior vice president of marketing and research and development for Dean Foods’ newly formed White Wave division, a $1.1 billion division with brands including Silk, Horizon, International Delight, Land-o-Lakes and Marie’s. From 2000 to 2002, he served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Frontier Natural Product, Inc., a privately held cooperative providing distribution services, organic ingredients and spices to the natural foods industry. Mr. Hughes holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from Denison University and an MBA degree with a concentration in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago. He also serves on the board of trustees for the Alexander Dawson School and as a director of B.F. Bolthouse LLC.
William E. Hooper
Age 73
William E. Hooper has been a member of our board of directors since June 2005 and has served as our marketing coordinator since May 2007. Mr. Hooper has been a senior executive in marketing and consumer communication companies for the past 40 years. As such, Mr. Hooper has had extensive experience in developing consumer marketing and advertising programs for major national consumer food companies. Mr. Hooper was an executive for 26 years, from 1964 to 1990, including serving as President and a director of WB Donor, one of the largest national independent advertising agencies in the United States. Mr. Hooper was principal of Hooper Consulting LLC, a marketing and communications consultancy working with large national advertisers and marketing companies heavily directed to the consumer food business, from 1990 to 2000. Clients included Florida Department of Citrus, Tropicana, ConAgra, Mead Johnson, Nabisco, Celestial Seasonings, and White Wave Foods. From 2000 to September 2005, Mr. Hooper served as chairman of Trahan, Burden & Charles Inc., or TBC, a mid-sized national advertising agency headquartered in New York and Baltimore that provides creative, public relations, media planning and buying, and direct marketing services to a broad spectrum of corporate customers. Among TBC’s clientele was Dow Jones & Company, Nextel Communications, Vanguard Securities, Yellow Book Directories, Gaylord Hotels, The Mills Corporation, the National Security Agency and Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Mr. Hooper holds a B.S. degree in business administration from Loyola College of Maryland and has served on the board of trustees of the Loyola College of Maryland, the National Aquarium and the St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Baltimore. He was also a member of the U.S. Army Reserve Military Police Corp. from 1958 to 1966.
Gerald J. "Bud" Laber
Age 67
Gerald J. "Bud" Laber has been a member of our board of directors since June 2005. Mr. Laber has been a private investor since 2000, when he retired after 33 years of service with Arthur Andersen. Mr. Laber was an audit partner with Arthur Andersen from 1980 to 2000 and, with the exception of a leave for military service from 1966 through 1968, was employed by Arthur Andersen from 1965 until retiring in 2000. Mr. Laber is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Laber holds the National Association of Corporate Directors Certificate of Corporate Education. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Colorado Chapter of National Association of Corporate Directors. Currently, Mr. Laber is: (i) on the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of Scott’s Liquid Gold since February 2004, (ii) on the board of directors, chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee of Allied Motion Technologies since November 2010 and (iii) president of The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado since January 2008. Formerly, Mr. Laber (i) served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of Healthetech, Inc. from July 2003 to May 2006; (ii) served on the board of directors and as chair of the audit committee of Spectralink Corporation from April 2004 to March 2007; and (iii) served on the board of directors and audit committee of Applied Films Corporation from July 2004 to July 2007 (chair from October 2005 to July 2007). Each of these companies is, or was, publicly traded. Mr. Laber holds a B.S.B.A. degree with a major in accountancy from the University of South Dakota and is a member of the board of trustees of the University of South Dakota Foundation.
James B. Leighton
Age 54
has been a member of our board of directors since August 2007. From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Leighton served as the senior vice president of operations and supply chain and is currently president of foodservice and international businesses of Perdue Farms Incorporated, a large, privately-held poultry company. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Leighton served as the senior vice president of operations of Conagra Foods, Inc., one of the largest food companies in the United States. Mr. Leighton holds a B.S.B.A. degree in business administration and industrial relations from the University of Iowa and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management. Mr. Leighton serves on the non-profit Foundation and Corporation Boards for Atlantic General Hospital.
James E. Lewis
Age 61
James E. Lewis has been a director of Smart Balance since inception in May 2005 and served as our vice chairman until May 14, 2007. Since 1991, Mr. Lewis has served as chairman and chief executive of Jeltex Holdings, LLC. Currently, Mr. Lewis is the sole officer and director of Jeltex. The Jeltex group has been comprised of significant or controlling ownership stakes acquired, held and sold for Mr. Lewis’ personal account in a vertically integrated group of private food businesses engaged in vegetable farming, fresh produce distribution, manufacture of canned foods and retail grocery distribution. Today, Mr. Lewis and his spouse hold a controlling interest in Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation, a public company engaged in the manufacture and marketing of specialty branded, quality ethnic Southwestern canned sauces and food products. Mr. Lewis is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a BBA degree in accounting from Texas Tech University.
The Company has adopted a code of business conduct and ethics applicable to the Company’s officers (including the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer) and employees, known as the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on the Company’s website. In the event that we amend or waive any of the provisions of the code of business conduct and ethics applicable to our principal executive officer or principal financial officer that relates to any element of the code of ethics definition enumerated in Item 406(b) of Regulation S-K, we intend to disclose the same on the Company’s website at www.smartbalance.com.
Other information concerning directors, executive officers and corporate governance is incorporated by reference pursuant to Instruction G of Form 10-K from our definitive proxy statement for the 2011 annual meeting of shareholders to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A on or before May 2, 2011.
