International Financing Expert Edwin J. Wang, Senior Managing
Director of Accretive Capital, Joins Growing Team of Senior
Advisers at Global Digital Solutions, Inc.
PALM BEACH, Fla., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Digital
Solutions (PINKSHEETS: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 international financing
expert Edwin J. Wang, founder and
senior managing director of Accretive Capital, has joined the
company's growing team of senior advisers. In a sign of
confidence in GDSI's growth potential, Mr. Wang has opted to be
compensated in equity instead of cash.
"Today's announcement is part of an accelerating team-building
process at GDSI that includes senior-level talent including
Florida's former Lt. Governor
Jennifer Carroll," said Richard J. Sullivan, the company's largest
shareholder who will become Chairman and CEO after the acquisition
with Airtronic is completed. "Ed
Wang is a well-regarded and well-connected senior investment
manager with years of high-level experience in global capital
markets. Jennifer Carroll and
I look forward to working closely with Ed as we explore investment
strategies related to the Airtronic merger and other growth
opportunities. Ed's a real pro with a proven record of
success in raising substantial amounts of financing in domestic
U.S. and international capital markets."
On April 24, 2013, the company
announced that Florida's former
Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll had
joined GDSI as a senior adviser and that she was expected to become
the company's President and Chief Operating Officer after the
completion of the planned merger with Airtronic.
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.
More About Edwin J. Wang
Ed Wang is the founder and
senior managing director of Accretive Capital Partners LLC (2002),
a leading direct secondary and co-investment sponsor in middle
market private equity with assets under management of $215 million across Fund I and separate accounts.
In addition, Accretive advises on private equity assets in excess
of $1.3 billion. From 2002 to
2007 while at predecessor firm Asymmetry Capital LLC, he led the
successful financial restructuring and liquidation of $450 million in distressed private equity
portfolio assets and monetized value-added liquidity creation in
excess of $200 million. In
restructuring and liquidating Zero Stage Capital, he led the
successful monetized turnaround and engineered structured liquidity
events for numerous portfolio companies including: ViaCell, Inc. (a
$60 million IPO underwritten by CSFB
and UBS); Aprilis, Inc. (a $25
million tender offer by CrossMatch Technologies, Inc.);
LiveWave ($25 a million acquisition
by Smiths Detection Services); and WorldWinner Inc. (a $30 million acquisition by Fun Technologies, an
affiliate of Liberty Media). Mr. Wang's accomplishments were
chronicled in two Harvard Business
School case studies and other publications, including The
Deal Magazine. Previously, during an eight-year
investment banking career, Mr. Wang spearheaded Greater China cross-border investment banking
at Credit Suisse. He began his career in financial services as an
Associate in the Capital Markets Group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Wang
earned his B.A. in Economics from Columbia
University and was a Visiting Fellow in Finance at the
MIT Sloan School of Management under
the supervision of the late Nobel laureate, Dr. Franco Modigliani.
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 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.
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.
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