Progen board members a mystery

INFORMATION about the qualifications and backgrounds of the three new Progen board members has been described as ‘very scant’ by CEO Justus Homburg.

The appointment of new directors Thomas James Burt, Teng Hsin Tang and Joe Yeh-Chiao Lin was put forward by majority shareholders, leaving remaining investors confused about their identities.

Homburg says he might have met ‘one or two’ of the three directors at previous shareholder meetings but it’s very hard to tell what their objectives or visions are for the company.

“The information they provided at the shareholder meeting was certainly very scant – there was no information provided about the experience of the particular individuals,” says Homburg.

“The member statement that came from the shareholders did not speculate what these board members want to achieve.”

Homburg resigned from the board earlier in the month along with former chairman Stephen Chang and director Dr Wolf Hanisch, but will remain as CEO.

“Whether I’d stay as CEO, I left that up to the new board but they requested I stay – I think they’ll make their objectives clear as time goes on but it’s pretty much in their hands,” he says.

Homburg and his colleagues resigned from the board on July 11 to make way for three board members he describes as highly qualified – Dr Julie Cherrington, Dr John Chiplin and Dr Gordon Schooley.

With Stuart James as the new chairman, Homburg hopes the majority of four experienced members out of the seven will be enough to push Progen in the right direction.

“We wanted to make sure that we make room for a new board to move forward,” he says.