Download Annual Report, 2.44 MB - Xyratex

During our 2005 fiscal year Paul Hannah and Matt Cornell, two of our executive vice presidents,resigned as executive officers, both for personal reasons. In January 2006 Will Leonard, one of ourexecutive vice presidents, stepped down from the post of executive officer in order to concentrate onbusiness development and on exploiting Xyratex technology in new markets.Board of DirectorsThe following table sets forth certain information regarding the directors of Xyratex Ltd:Name Age PositionAndrew Sukawaty .................. 50 ChairmanSteve Barber ...................... 45 DirectorNic Humphries .................... 38 DirectorJonathan Brooks ................... 50 DirectorErnest Sampias .................... 54 DirectorSteve Sanghi ...................... 50 DirectorAndrew Sukawaty has been the Chairman of our board of directors since October 2004.Mr. Sukawaty is also chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Inmarsat plc, acompany listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the world-wide mobile satellite services provider.He is a director of O 2 plc, a company listed on the LSE and he is a director of PowerwaveTechnologies Inc (NASDAQ). He has 28 years of experience in technology industries in the UnitedStates and Europe, having previously held the offices of chief executive and president of Sprint PCS,chief executive officer of NTL, and senior roles with US West and AT&T. Mr. Sukawaty holds a BBAfrom the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.Steve Barber. As above.Nic Humphries has served as a member of the board directors of Xyratex Ltd and its predecessorcompany, Xyratex Group Limited, since September 2003. Mr. Humphries was appointed as a directorby Xtx Limited, the company through which funds managed by HgCapital own our shares.Mr. Humphries is a general partner of HgCapital, a European private equity investment firm, and hasbeen Head of HgCapital’s Technology Practice since July 2001. Prior to joining HgCapital,Mr. Humphries was Managing Director of the European business of Geocapital Partners, a technologyventure capital firm, and Head of Technology and Telecoms at Barclays Private Equity. He has 15 yearsof experience in the venture capital and private equity industry and is a member of the boards ofdirectors of several private technology companies. Mr. Humphries holds a Bachelor of Science degreein Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Salford, was a U.K. NationalEngineering Scholar and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.Jonathan Brooks has served as a director on our board of directors since May 1, 2004. For the pastfour years, Mr. Brooks has assisted several venture capital-backed private equity companies in financialand strategic management. Mr. Brooks is currently a director of Frontier Silicon Holdings Limited, acompany which supplies semiconductor technology for use in digital radio and television applications,and is Chairman of Picochip Inc., a private equity backed company developing semiconductor solutionsfor Wimax applications. He is also a director of e2v Technologies plc, which develops sensortechnology, and Glotel Plc, a temporary staffing company, both of which are listed on the LSE.Between 1995 and 2002, Mr. Brooks was Chief Financial Officer and a director of ARM Holdings plc,a company which listed on the LSE and NASDAQ National Market in 1998. Prior to this, Mr. Brooksperformed a variety of financial roles for the Accor Group S.A. in London and Paris. Mr. Brooks holdsa Bachelors degree in economic and social science from the University of Wales and an MBA from theUniversity of Manchester and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.63