Crdentia Announces Retirement of James D. Durham, Founder, Corporate Governance Changes and Additional Funding
07 March 2007 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
DALLAS, March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Crdentia Corp. (OTC:CRDT)
(BULLETIN BOARD: CRDT) , a leading U.S. provider of healthcare
staffing services, today announced the retirement of its Founder,
Chairman and CEO, James D. Durham, changes in corporate governance
and the completion of an additional round of financing.
Accordingly, the board has elected C. Fred Toney as Chairman of the
Board. The Company has also immediately begun a search for a new
CEO and additions to its board of directors. Randall Turnbull,
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, will continue to
run Crdentia's day-to-day operations with all thirteen staffing
hubs reporting to him. James J. TerBeest, Chief Financial Officer,
will continue to oversee all financial and corporate development
operations. Recent major corporate announcements, including Joint
Commission company-wide certification, restructuring and pay-down
of debt, launch of its CareerBuilder.com partnership, and major
contract wins that are now beginning to generate significant new
staffing orders from some of the leading U.S. integrated health
networks, position Crdentia for strong organic growth in 2007. This
will remain the focus of the day-to-day operating team led by Mr.
Turnbull. Mr. Turnbull stated, "We believe that we are now in the
position to expand the recent organic growth we have been
experiencing and our new contracts represent a substantial
opportunity." The Company also announced that it had accepted the
resignation of James D. Durham as Chairman and CEO. Mr. Durham will
continue as a consultant to the Company for an eight-month period.
The board of directors has implemented improved corporate
governance practices, separating the Chairman and CEO positions at
the Company. Newly elected Chairman of the Board, C. Fred Toney,
stated, "I am pleased to accept this appointment and will continue
to work tirelessly to create shareholder value for Crdentia." As
Chairman of the Board, Toney has declined any compensation for his
position. Toney continued, "As the Founder and architect of
Crdentia Corporation, Jim Durham's contributions have been
instrumental in building the Company to its position today as one
of the leading nurse and allied healthcare staffing companies in
the U.S. We look forward to his contributions during his
consulting/transitional period." Mr. Durham stated, "I am very
proud of what we have accomplished since I started Crdentia in
August 2003. We have built one of the leading full-service
healthcare staffing companies in the country with $40 million in
revenues and thirteen offices. I am particularly proud of the fine
cadre of professionals we have assembled. I recently celebrated my
60th birthday and decided it was time to retire from the leadership
of this great company." The Company has also immediately begun a
search for a new CEO and additions to the board of directors. Mr.
Durham commented, "The new CEO will inherit a truly great team."
The Company also announced today that it has completed additional
private placements of common stock for $1 million. When added to
the $2 million of financings completed earlier this year, the
Company has raised a total of $3 million during 2007. Crdentia
plans to use the proceeds from the private placements for general
working capital purposes and debt refinancing. Mr. TerBeest
commented, "This financing adds to working capital to allow us to
drive organic growth in 2007. We will also continue to seek
targeted strategic acquisitions in the staffing industry that will
leverage our infrastructure already in place." The financing
included an initial private placement of 1,283,332 shares of
Crdentia common stock at a price of $0.60 per share, which closed
on January 25, 2007. A second traunch of the transaction, which
closed on February 7, 2007, consisted of a private placement of
2,049,999 shares at a price of $0.60 per share. A third traunch of
the transaction, which closed on March 2, 2007, consisted of a
private placement of 1,666,667 shares at a price of $0.60 per
share. Aggregate proceeds for this transaction now total $3
million. About Crdentia Corp. Crdentia Corp. is one of the nation's
leading providers of healthcare staffing services to 1,500
healthcare providers in 49 states. Crdentia provides high quality
temporary healthcare staffing comprised of travel and per diem
nursing, locum tenens and allied healthcare staffing. For more
information, visit http://www.crdentia.com/. For Further
Information: AT THE COMPANY: AT FINANCIAL RELATIONS BOARD: James J.
TerBeest Lasse Glassen Chief Financial Officer 310-854-8313
972-850-0780 DATASOURCE: Crdentia Corp. CONTACT: James J. TerBeest,
Chief Financial Officer of Crdentia Corp., +1-972-850-0780; or
Lasse Glassen of Financial Relations Board, +1-310-854-8313, , for
Crdentia Corp. Web site: http://www.crdentia.com/
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