Totally Green Makes Management and Board Appointments to Support New Go-to-Market Service Model
TULSA, OK--(Marketwire -08/16/12)- Totally Green, Inc. (TLGN), a pioneer in organic waste processing, has implemented several management and board level changes designed to better support the company's new service model for the ORCA Green™ Machine, a cost-saving and environmentally friendly alternative to carting food waste to landfills.
Shawn Dym has been appointed chief executive officer of Totally Green, succeeding Rob Phillips, who will remain a company director. Dym is a founder and principal of York Plains Investment Corp., which recently committed $20 million in equity and equipment financing to Totally Green.
Leonidas (Louis) Anagnostakos was appointed chairman of the board of directors, succeeding Tom Self, who will remain a director. Anagnostakos is the co-founder and previous CEO of Turtle Island Recycling, one of the largest recycling and waste removal companies in Toronto.
Shawn Dym, Mark Silver, Amir Yoffe and Jason Drummond were appointed directors, replacing William Horner and Nate Baker as directors, bringing the total number of board members to seven (see the career bios of the new board members, below).
"We are very excited about these new appointments, especially with the tremendous experience in corporate governance, commercial services, and finance these new members bring to the table," said Phillips. "I have had the fortunate opportunity to get to know Shawn during the piloting of the ORCA Green Machine under our new service program he inspired, as well as during the lengthy due diligence phase of the recent funding. I am confident he possesses the vision, knowledge, skills and experience to lead us in a successful roll-out of this program, and take Totally Green to a greater level of growth and market expansion."
Tom Self commented: "As our new chairman, Louis also possesses invaluable vision and leadership experience that is ideally suited to our growth plan. Having grown Turtle Island from zero to revenues of more than $100 million in annual revenues, he brings a fantastic depth of understanding about our market, as well as hands-on, seasoned experience with the types of businesses we're targeting with our new ORCA Green Machine service program."
"Amir's experience with private equity investing in the food services industry rounds out the expertise we need on the board to execute on our expansion plan to become the primary alternative to diverting organic waste from landfills," added Self.
Shawn Dym commented: "Rob, Tom and the entire management team have done an amazing job of bringing the ORCA machine to its present level of commercial introduction. They have built an enviable foundation in product technology and introductory customer wins upon which we can leverage the experience in commercial services that I and other new team members bring to Totally Green. We are highly confident in the success of our new service program, given similar programs we have introduced with other business ventures and the successful pilots with the ORCA machine over the last several months."
Phillips added: "We would specially like to thank Bill Horner for his important contributions to Totally Green over the many years he has served on our board. His groundbreaking efforts have helped position us for this next, very exciting stage in our development."
New Management and Board Member Bios
Leonidas (Louis) Anagnostakos, Totally Green's new chairman, is co-founder of Turtle Island Recycling Corporation, one of the largest recycling and waste removal companies in Toronto. Born in Sparta, Greece, he immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1973. As a teenager he began answering phones and running trades on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange. While still in his teens, he became an institutional equity trader at Merrill Lynch. Then in 1991, Anagnostakos co-founded Turtle Island Recycling, working out of his parent's garage in Scarborough, Ontario. Over the next 20 years, Turtle Island grew to nearly $100 million in annual revenues and more than 400 employees. In his last role as CEO of the company, he successfully navigated the sale of the business to a private equity-backed buyer in December 2011.
Shawn Dym, the company's new CEO, will continue as managing director of York Plains Investment Corp. Dym has been involved in the energy industry for more than 10 years in various operational and corporate development roles. He was a co-founder of National Home Services (NHS) and served as chief operating officer from 2008 to 2011. During that time NHS grew to more than $300 million in contracted revenue with 100,000+ customers. He graduated from York University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mark Silver, new Totally Green director, is president of National Home Services (NHS). NHS provides home services, including water heater rentals, to 150,000+ Ontario consumers. Silver has been involved in the energy business for 20 years and the real estate business for more than 30 years. He co-founded Direct Energy Marketing and grew the company to more than $1.3 billion in revenues before selling to Centrica PLC (aka British Gas) in 2000. Silver has made significant real estate investments in both development stage and income producing properties in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors during his 30 year career. Over the last 15 years, these investments have been made through his company, Optus Capital Corporation. Today, Optus and related companies own and manage more than 1 million square feet of commercial and industrial space, and have interests in 4,000+ acres of developable lands in and around the greater Toronto area. Silver was a founding partner and chief executive officer of Universal Energy, which was sold in 2009 to Just Energy.
Jason Drummond currently serves as managing director of York Plains. He is also the founder and president of DGC Investments, a private investment company with a focus on oil and gas production and processing, agriculture, alternative fuels and the aircraft chartering industry among others. DGC's largest holding was the build-up of an oil and gas exploration and production company that grew from a small acquisition to a substantial gain, culminating in a sale to a publicly traded energy company. Drummond holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Regina. He also serves on the board of directors of both Villanova Oil Corp. and Villanova 4 Oil Corp.
Amir Yoffe is a principal of CIC Partners (www.cicpartners.com), a middle market private equity firm based in Dallas, Texas, and has been with the firm since 2002. Prior to CIC, he worked in JP Morgan's Mergers and Acquisitions group in New York. He currently serves as a director of OmniSYS, LLC and is a former director of Combs Produce. Yoffe also sits on the board of the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
About Totally Green
Totally Green, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets the company's ORCA Green™ Machine and markets the Ingeo™ Green Bottle Spring Water. The ORCA (Organic Refuse Conversion Alternative) machine allows for rapid composting of most organic material in institutional and commercial end-user applications, after which the liquid compost is either returned to the soil as nourishment or disposed of through the ordinary sewer system. The machine creates meaningful cost savings for customers while diverting food waste from landfills and reducing methane gas production. Both products offer businesses and consumers innovative and affordable solutions for food & beverage by-product disposal. For more information, please visit www.totallygreen.com.
Important Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, expectations, intentions, projections, developments, future events, or performance, underlying (expressed or implied) assumptions and other statements that are other than historical facts. These forward-looking statements are only predictions. All statements relating to the Company's plans to upgrade its listing to OTCQX, to becoming a reporting company, and other plans are subject to risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. No assurances can be given that such predictions will prove correct. Actual events or results may differ materially. Forward-looking statements should be read in light of the cautionary statements and risks that include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with a small company, our comparatively limited financial resources, the uncertainty of market trends, the competition faced from other current and future technologies and the uncertainties of competitive pressures we face. These or other risks could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results indicated or implied in such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise such statements.
