Global Digital Solutions, Inc., Continues Building Senior
Leadership Team With Appointment of Matthew Kelley, Managing
General Partner of Vox Equity Partners of West Palm Beach, FL, as
Senior Adviser
PALM BEACH, Fla., May 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Digital
Solutions (OTC PINK:GDSI), a company that is positioning itself as
a leader in providing knowledge-based and culturally attuned social
consulting and security-related solutions in unsettled areas,
announced today that Matthew Kelley,
Managing General Partner of Vox Equity Partners of West Palm Beach, FL, has been appointed to the
position of senior adviser.
Mr. Kelley will provide strategic financial guidance to
facilitate the planned merger between GDSI and Airtronic
USA, Inc. ("Airtronic"), along
with future acquisitions. In a sign of confidence in GDSI's
significant growth opportunity, and to ensure that he is aligned
with the interests of shareholders, Kelley will receive equity
instead of cash compensation.
Mr. Kelley's appointment comes just a few weeks after the
announcement that Florida's former
Lt. Governor, Jennifer Carroll,
joined the company as a senior adviser and that she is expected to
become President and Chief Operating Officer of GDSI once the
planned merger with Airtronic has been completed.
"Matt Kelley's appointment is a
significant step in the strategic growth of GDSI," said
Richard J. Sullivan, the company's
largest shareholder who will become Chairman and CEO after the
acquisition with Airtronic is completed. "We're in the
process of building a winning team at GDSI. I'm pleased to
say that Matt and other key leaders are so confident in GDSI's
future that they will accept an equity stake in the company instead
of cash compensation. This says a lot about the strength of
GDSI's strategic vision and it aligns the interests of the
leadership team directly with the interests of
shareholders."
On August 20, 2012, the GDSI and
Airtronic announced that they had signed a letter of intent to
enter into good faith discussions involving a potential strategic
combination in which Airtronic would be acquired by GDSI.
Having completed those good faith discussions, the companies signed
a merger agreement and reorganization plan on October 16, 2012.
Dr. Merriellyn Kett, Airtronic's CEO and President, is expected
to continue serving as CEO of Airtronic once the merger between
GDSI and Airtronic is finalized.
Here's a sampling of Matthew
Kelley's recent transactions:
- Biocuis, Inc. involving a next generation mass spectrometer
technology. Acquired by Agilent for $57 million in cash;
- Biotrove, Inc., which developed the mid-density OpenArray®
Real-Time PCR System. Acquired by Life Technologies;
- Hydrocision, Inc., featuring minimally invasive medical devices
utilizing water jet technology. Recapitalized by Volcano Capital;
and
- Rib-X, Inc., involving the development of novel classes of
antibiotics resulting from Rib-X's RX-04 program for the treatment
of resistant Gram-positive and resistant Gram-negative pathogens.
Executed an exclusive worldwide research collaboration agreement
and option for license with Sanofi valued at $772 million.
More About Matthew Kelley
From 2006 to the present, Matthew
Kelley has served as co-founder and managing general partner
of Vox Equity Partners based in West Palm
Beach, FL. The firm is a specialized private equity
fund manager that has been purchasing bank private equity portfolio
(or "merchant banking") investments since 2006. Vox offers a
proprietary methodology and platform to transact constructed bank
private equity portfolios for purchase and subsequent
management.
Prior to Vox, Kelley served as a partner with Boston-based Accretive Capital Partners, as
Interim Director with Navigator Technology Ventures in Cambridge, MA, as Director of Private Equity
Investment with MB Capital of Boston,
MA, as Venture Capital Associate with Zero Stage Capital of
Cambridge, MA, and as an Associate
in the Emerging Business Group with Coopers & Lybrand of
Boston, MA. Kelley holds an
AB degree in Government & Economics from Dartmouth College (1991), a Master of Business
Administration from Northeastern
University (1997) and a Master of Science in Accounting from
Northeastern University (1997).
For more information, visit
http://voxequitycapital.com/Home.html
More About Jennifer Carroll
Florida's 18th
Lt. Governor, Carroll was the state's first female elected as Lt.
Governor and its first African-American elected statewide. As Lt.
Governor from 2011 to 2013, Carroll oversaw the Florida Department
of Military Affairs, the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs,
and was Chairperson of Space Florida. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad West Indies,
Jennifer Carroll immigrated to
the United States as a young
child. After enlisting in the
United States Navy in 1979, Carroll served her adopted
nation honorably and with distinction, rising from the rank of jet
mechanic E-1 to retire as a Lieutenant Commander, Aviation
Maintenance Officer. During her 20-year Navy career she was awarded
numerous awards, including a Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy
Commendation Medals, two Navy Achievement Medals, a National
Defense Service Medal, and an Expert Pistol Medal. As a
Florida state legislator, Carroll
served as Deputy Majority Leader from 2003-2004, Majority Whip from
2004-2006, Chair of the Finance Committee from 2006-2008, and Chair
of the Economic and Development Council from 2008-2010.
Carroll holds an MBA degree from St. Leo University.
More About Richard J. Sullivan
Dick Sullivan is an
entrepreneurial pioneer. In 2001, Sullivan received the
prestigious World Economic Forum's "Award for Advanced Chip
Technology" presented in Davos,
Switzerland. He served as Chairman and CEO of Applied
Digital Solutions, where he executed a technology rollup involving
42 acquisitions that succeeded in increasing the company's share
price from $2.50 to a peak of
$18 per share. During Sullivan's
decade-long tenure as Chairman and CEO, Applied Digital was one of
the highest volume traded stocks on NASDAQ. Sullivan also
served as Chairman and CEO of Digital Angel Corporation and led the
effort to spin off VeriChip Corporation. In 1970, he was a
founding member of the management team of Manufacturing Data
Systems, Inc., which listed at $7.50
per share and was sold to Schlumberger N.V. in 1980 at $65 per share.
More About Merriellyn Kett, PhD
Airtronic's CEO and President joined the company in 2003 as
a partner and helped to refocus the business on several essential
battlefield weapons, including the M203 40mm Grenade Launcher – one
of the most widely used grenade launchers in the world – the .50
cal. Machine Gun, the MK 19 Grenade Machine Gun, and most recently
the MK 777, a shoulder-fired recoilless rifle that is light,
lethal, and affordable. Dr. Kett received her doctorate in analytic
philosophy from DePaul University in
Chicago, IL, and spent a year
studying at the Sorbonne in Paris,
France. Before joining Airtronic in 2003, she worked in
infrastructure development in China, building a metallurgical coking plant
in Shanxi Province.
About Global Digital Solutions, Inc.
Global Digital Solutions is refocusing its business
strategy on providing knowledge-based and culturally attuned
societal consulting and security-related solutions in unsettled
areas. For more information please visit
http://www.gdsi.co.
About Airtronic USA,
Inc.
Airtronic is an electro-mechanical engineering design and
manufacturing company. It provides small arms and small arms spare
parts to the U.S. Department of Defense, foreign militaries, and
the law enforcement market. The company also manufactures
medical, avionics, and telecommunications original equipment. The
company's products include grenade launchers, rocket propelled
grenade launchers, grenade launcher guns, flex machine guns,
grenade machine guns, rifles, and magazines. Founded in 1990, the
company is based in Elk Grove
Village, Illinois. On May 16,
2012, the voluntary petition of Airtronic, Inc. for
liquidation under Chapter 7 was converted to Chapter 11
reorganization. The company had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on
March 13, 2012. For more information,
please visit www.Airtronic.net.
Statements about the company's expectations, including revenue
and earnings and all other statements in this press release, other
than historical facts, are "forward looking" statements and are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to
change at any time. The company's actual results could differ
materially from expected results. In reflecting subsequent events
or circumstances, the company undertakes no obligation to update
forward looking statements.
Contact:
William J. Delgado
916-838-8833
info@gdsi.co
Richard J. Sullivan
916-535-1713
info@gdsi.co
SOURCE Global Digital Solutions, Inc.