James Forese is the retired Operating Partner and Chief Operating Officer of HCI Equity Partners, positions he held when he joined the firm in July 2003 until his retirement in 2018. Prior to joining HCI Equity Partners, Mr. Forese served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IKON Office Solutions, Inc. (formerly Alco Standard Corporation) from 1998 to 2002 and retired as Chairman in 2003. Before IKON, Mr. Forese served as Controller and Vice President of Finance at IBM Corporation and Chairman at IBM Credit Corporation. Mr. Forese was a director and Chairman of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee and environmental, health & safety committee of Progressive Waste Solutions, and non-executive chairman from January 2010 until its merger with Waste Connections, Inc. in January 2017, and serves on the board of directors of several private companies. Mr. Forese also served as a director, audit committee chair and member of the compensation committee of Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. from April 2003 until November 2008 and was on the board of directors of SFN Group (formerly Spherion Corporation) from 2003 until its acquisition by Randstad North America in September 2011, and was its non-executive chairman and chairman of the corporate governance and nominating committee. Mr. Forese was also formerly a director of Lexmark International, NUI Corporation, Southeast Bank Corporation, Unisource Worldwide, Inc. and American Management Systems, Incorporated. Mr. Forese received a B.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Board believes Mr. Forese, as a result of his vast experience and demonstrated success as an executive, possesses knowledge and experience in various areas, including business leadership, banking, finance, technology, and public and private company board experience, which strengthens the Board’s overall knowledge, capabilities and experience. In addition, Mr. Forese’s experience with audit committees and his financial and executive positions at HCI Equity Partners and IBM provides the Board with an audit committee financial expert which further strengthens key functions of the Board and Audit Committee, such as oversight of financial reporting and internal controls.