Carmanah Appoints Bruce Cousins as Chief Executive Officer
Carmanah Technologies Corp. announces the appointment of Bruce Cousins as chief executive officer and a board director, effective Oct, 12. 2011. Cousins takes over both roles from Ted Lattimore, the company's CEO and board director since 2007.
Cousins' professional experience began in finance, having completed a Bachelor of Commerce and Chartered Accountant designation in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He has gained extensive experience in leadership and operations working for both multi-million dollar companies and in leading start-ups through to successful completion of their strategic growth plans. His 22 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience, began with a 13-year tenure with Johnson and Johnson in finance and operations. In 2004 Cousins left behind a successful career with Johnson and Johnson and joined three founders in the start-up phase of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals. Aspreva developed rapidly as a private company and in slightly more than one year Cousins played a leadership role in the IPO of the company, with a successful cross border listing on both the NASDAQ and TSX. Aspreva continued to develop with market capitalization reaching 700 million dollars with operations in Switzerland, UK, United States and Canada. In 2007 Cousins led the strategic assessment, resulting in the sale of the company in January 2008, delivering a 24 percent premium to shareholders in a 915 million dollar all cash transaction. More recently, Cousins has spent the past few years in the renewable energy industry. At Xantrex, he completed the sale in a four month period resulting in a 55 percent premium to shareholders; at Ballard Power he led finance and operations through a balance sheet fortification initiative.
"We are very pleased to have Bruce joining Carmanah as CEO at this point in the company's development," stated Board Chair Rob Cruickshank. "Bruce has an outstanding track record of delivering financial, operational and organizational performance, and company profitability, in the global technology industry. His wealth of knowledge, commitment to success, and experience in taking new technologies and solutions to new markets, will take Carmanah into the next phase of its strategic growth plan."
The board thanks Ted Lattimore for his contributions to Carmanah as CEO and as a director over the past four years and wish him well in his future endeavours.