The Green Bay Packers will present four candidates for shareholder vote at July’s Annual Meeting to join the Packers Board of Directors: Michael Barber, James Christensen, Eddie Garcia and Chris Woleske.
The candidate information will be included in proxy information being sent in June to more than 360,000 shareholders in advance of the Annual Meeting, set for Monday, July 26, at 11 a.m. in Lambeau Field. The four candidates were approved by vote of the organization’s Board of Directors at its quarterly meeting held this week.
Barber is the Chief Diversity Officer for General Electric and based in Milwaukee. Christensen is President and CEO of Green Bay-based Wisconsin Plastics Inc. Garcia is Senior Director of Business Development at Oshkosh Defense and also is a former Packers placekicker, having played in Green Bay from 1983-84. Woleske is President and CEO of Bellin Health.
“We’re really excited about this year’s class and are delighted to present them for shareholder vote,” said Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy. “Each of them brings excellent experience and perspective to their role with the Packers. I look forward to working with them on the Board.”
The shareholders meeting also will see five members take on emeritus status: Nancy Armbrust (originally elected in 2018), Thomas Arndt (1992), Ricardo Diaz (2012), Thomas Olson (2015) and John Skoug (2012). Both Olson and Skoug have served on the Executive Committee, since 2012 and 2018, respectively, with Olson also serving as Vice President and Lead Director since 2015.
“We thank all directors for their valuable contributions during their tenure on the Board,” Murphy said. “Both Tom and John have made important contributions to our Executive Committee.
“Tom’s leadership over the past six years as our Lead Director has been tremendous. He has been a key contributor to our success on and off the field.”
Proposed to succeed Olson and Skoug on the Executive Committee are Marcia Anderson and Karl Schmidt.
Anderson, originally elected to the Board in 2016, served more than 35 years in the Army Reserve, rising to the rank of major general, becoming the first African American woman to achieve that position. She served in a number of senior leadership roles, concluding her service as Deputy Chief, Army Reserve, at the Pentagon prior to her retirement. Outside of the Army, she served over 30 years with the Federal Courts, finishing her career as the Clerk of Court for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of Wisconsin. Now retired from the clerk of courts, she serves in leadership roles on the boards of directors for several Wisconsin organizations, as well as a U.S. Department of Defense committee that reports to the Secretary of Defense.
Schmidt, originally elected to the Board in 2017, is president and CEO of Belmark Inc., a De Pere, Wis., company that is a converter of pressure-sensitive labels, printed flexible packaging, and folding cartons. Prior to joining Belmark in 1994, he served in a leadership role at Gaylord Container. He is chairperson of the Audit Committee. He also serves on the boards of directors of AMERCO, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Bellin Health.
“We are excited to have Marcia and Karl become members of our Executive Committee,” Murphy said. “Marcia has extensive military and legal experience that will be helpful to us. She’s extremely active in the Madison community and will be the first Executive Committee member from Madison. Karl’s work in leading Belmark has been impressive, and he has also done an excellent job as Chair of the Audit Committee. Both will be great additions to the Executive Committee.”
In addition, Susan Finco is proposed to succeed Olson as the corporation’s Vice President and Lead Director. Finco has been a member of the Board since 2000 and a member of the Executive Committee since 2015, and also serves on the Director Affairs, Packers Foundation and Personnel & Compensation Committees. The proposed changes will be taken up at the Board’s August meeting.
“I’m looking forward to working with Susan as Lead Director,” Murphy said. “She brings great leadership and experience to the position, particularly in public relations.”
Shareholders will be provided four Annual Meeting tickets for each Shareholder account, including accounts that have a joint or custodial registration. Shareholders receiving meeting materials electronically will be able to access print-at-home tickets upon voting their shares.
As pandemic conditions continue to change, any COVID-19 protocols for the meeting will be finalized and posted on packers.com and packersowner.com as the meeting date nears. Attendees are asked to be prepared to wear masks and sit in a socially distanced manner if that is the guidance from local medical and health experts at the time of the meeting.
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