Staples Announces Changes to Board and Governance Policies

Staples, Inc. announced that Paul-Henri Ferrand (pictured), Vice President of U.S. Sales and Operations at Google, has been nominated by the company’s Board of Directors for election as a Director at the 2015 Annual Meeting.

“We’re pleased to nominate Paul-Henri Ferrand to our Board of Directors,” said Vijay Vishwanath, Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. “Paul-Henri is a strong strategic fit given his deep background in ecommerce and technology at large, global organizations. His extensive business-to-business experience will be extremely valuable as we continue to focus on our delivery businesses as a key growth engine of Staples.”

Prior to joining Google, Ferrand was President of Dell North America, where he led Dell’s business-to-business and consumer segments with revenue of $24 billion. Prior to joining Dell in 2004, he held senior management positions at Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent and AT&T.

In addition, Robert C. Nakasone, Lead Independent Director, has announced his decision to retire at the end of his term at the 2015 Annual Meeting.

“Bob Nakasone has been a strong leader and has made significant contributions to Staples over many years,” said Ron Sargent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “His deep knowledge and experience have been invaluable since the earliest days of our company, and we thank him for his dedicated service to Staples.”

The Board intends for Robert E. Sulentic to serve as Lead Independent Director, upon Nakasone’s retirement. Sulentic, Chief Executive Officer of CBRE, Inc., joined the Staples board in 2007 and currently serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee.

In response to feedback from shareholders during the company’s ongoing outreach program, the Board of Directors announced other changes. The Board plans to appoint an Independent Chair upon the succession of the current Chairman.

Additionally, the Company announced that Sargent has elected to eliminate a tax-gross up provision in his existing severance agreement and elected not to accept his 2.5 percent base salary raise for 2014, which the Board of Directors had previously approved.

(Source: Staples)