Governance

Lawrence J. Waldman was appointed a member of the Board of Directors on October 5, 2016. Mr. Waldman has over forty years of experience in public accounting. He joined First Long Island Investors LLC, an investment and wealth management firm, as a Managing Director in May 2016. Prior to that Mr. Waldman served as an advisor to the accounting firm of EisnerAmper LLP, where he was previously the Partner-in-Charge of Commercial Audit Practice Development for Long Island since September 2011. Prior to joining EisnerAmper LLP, Mr. Waldman was the Partner-in-Charge of Commercial Audit Practice Development for Holtz Rubenstein Reminick, LLP from July 2006 to August 2011. Mr. Waldman was the Managing Partner of the Long Island office of KPMG LLP from 1994 through 2006, the accounting firm where he began his career in 1972. Mr. Waldman has served as a director of Bovie Medical since 2011 and he is currently the Chair of the audit committee and Lead Independent Director of the Board. Mr. Waldman serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Northstar/RXR Metro Income Fund, a non-traded Real Estate Investment Trust, and has served as a member of its audit committee since 2014. Mr. Waldman was elected to the Board of Directors of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. in August of 2015, and since December 2015, serves as Chair of its Audit Committee. Mr. Waldman previously served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and as chair and a member of its Finance and Audit Committee. Mr. Waldman is a certified public accountant in New York State. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of CPAs. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is also an adjunct professor. Mr. Waldman’s extensive wealth of public accounting, general finance and board of director knowledge and experience will be a valuable asset to the Company.

Mr. Lakios has over thirty years of experience serving the semiconductor, data storage, and optical device industries and is the holder of several patents in the field of process equipment and device structure. From 2015 until earlier this year, Mr. Lakios was the President and Chief Executive Officer at Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc., overseeing that company’s transition from R&D to a leading global commercial UV LED supplier. From 2003 to 2011 he was the Executive Vice President of Field Operations and President and Chief Operating Officer at Imago Scientific, bringing it from pre-revenue to a commercial leadership position in the 3D atomic scale tomography field.  Mr. Lakios was previously employed at Veeco Instruments Inc. from 1984 until 2003, where he held several positions, including President of the Process Equipment Group and Executive Vice President of Field Operations. He has been involved in several acquisitions and numerous product line launches. He received his BE in Mechanical Engineering with focus in Material Science from SUNY Stony Brook in 1984.

Raymond Nielsen was appointed a member of the Board of Directors on October 5, 2016. Mr. Nielsen was the Director of Finance for The Beechwood Organization until January 2019 and has been responsible for Project and Corporate Finance including Strategic Planning Initiatives since 2014. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Bridgehampton National Bank and Bridge Bancorp Inc., its Parent holding company since 2013, serving on the Compensation Committee, Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee, ALCO, Loan, and the Compliance, BSA & CRA Committees. Mr. Nielsen is the former CEO of Reliance Federal Savings Bank and Herald National Bank, and a 45 year veteran of the banking industry. Mr. Nielsen also served as a Director of North Fork Bancorporation and its subsidiary North Fork Bank for 6 years where he chaired both the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee as well as having served as Lead Independent Director.

Conrad J. Gunther has served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2000. Mr. Gunther has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and raising capital through both public and private means. He has been an executive officer and director of several banks, both public and private, and has served on the boards of two other public companies. He most recently served on the board of GVC Venture Corp., a public company from June 2004 until it merged with the Halo Companies in September 2009. Since January 2008, Mr. Gunther has been an executive officer of Community National Bank, a Long Island based commercial bank, where he is currently Executive Vice President. Mr. Gunther also continues to serve as the President of E-Billsolutions, Inc., a private company he founded in 2001. E-Billsolutions provides credit card processing to internet, mail order and telephone order merchants.

Dr. Robert M. Brill was appointed a member of the Board of Directors on March 9, 2021. Dr. Brill was co-founder and managing partner of Newlight Management, headquartered in Jericho, New York, a venture capital fund that focused on early stage technology companies. Prior to co-founding Newlight, Dr. Brill was a general partner of Poly Ventures, a Long Island based venture capital fund. Newlight and Poly Ventures have collectively invested in over 60 private companies including Long Island based Fatwire, Invision, and Globecomm. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the L.I. Angel Network, the L.I. High Tech Incubator and several private companies. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of multiple public and private companies. Dr. Brill holds a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Brown University and a B.A. and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Lehigh University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. He is a founding member of the Technical Advisory Board of the Semiconductor Research Corporation and was elected to the L.I. Technology Hall of Fame. He holds multiple patents and invention disclosures.