Succeeds Retiring Board Member Thomas Adams
Sebastian Valdez has been named as
Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors by
Ballistic Recovery Systems of South St. Paul, Minnesota. He will
replace Thomas H. Adams Jr., a member of the BRS board since 1986,
who is retiring effective immediately.
Mr. Valdez is a Director at High F Inc., a private investment
firm based in Miami, FL. Prior to joining High F, Mr. Valdez was a
Director of BancBoston Capital, a private equity firm based in
Boston, MA, where he led the firm’s investment activities in
Latin America. In that capacity, he was responsible for a regional
investment strategy and managed a portfolio of over $250 million in
private equity investments in several countries in Latin America
and the United States. Prior to joining BancBoston Capital, Mr.
Valdez was Vice President at BancBoston Robertson Stephens, an
investment bank, where he was primarily responsible for the
execution of capital markets transactions. He will report to the
company's chief executive officer.
"We are very pleased with our latest addition to the BRS
Aerospace team," said Larry E. Williams, President and CEO of BRS.
"Sebastian Valdez brings significant capital market experience to
the company and will be an invaluable contributor to our corporate
governance, corporate finance, financial reporting and treasury
management activities.”
"We would like to thank Tom Adams for his many outstanding
contributions to BRS over the past 26 years and respect his
decision to retire," said BRS founder Boris Popov. “Sebastian
adds breadth of discipline to our board of directors, bringing
substantial financing and M&A experience coupled with his
executive level experience in business development and as a
director at BancBoston Capital."
"Over the past two years we have experienced significant
challenges driven by market conditions," says Williams. "Our
business is growing again at a rapid pace, and we need a very
senior person to help execute our business plan. Sebastian’s
background is uniquely suited to our growth strategy. He
successfully secured private equity and debt financings and managed
the complexities of mergers and acquisitions for numerous
companies. All these experiences, coupled with his strong
operations capabilities made Sebastian the perfect fit for our
growing team", concluded Williams. Earlier this month, BRS
finalized an arrangement with High F which includes senior secured
debt facilities and equity, making High F the largest shareholder
in BRS, holding preferred stock convertible into a 33.3% common
equity interest in BRS.