NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Politan Capital Management, a 9% shareholder of Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ: MASI), today announced that it has nominated two candidates for election to the Masimo Board of Directors at the upcoming 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is currently scheduled for June 26, 2023.
Politan’s nominees are:
- Michelle Brennan, a former senior executive at Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) for more than 30 years, where she oversaw medical device businesses globally as well as consumer pharmaceutical businesses. At J&J, Michelle successfully scaled multiple businesses from inception to several billion in revenue and led efforts to invest in innovation that resulted in successful new product launches. Michelle is currently an independent director at Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) and recently served on the Board of Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP). If elected to the Masimo Board, Michelle would bring decades of successful experience reinvigorating profitable growth in the healthcare sector.
- Quentin Koffey, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Politan. Quentin has an established track record of working constructively with boards and management teams to enhance shareholder value, including at companies such as Centene (NYSE: CNC), Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW), Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX), Bunge (NYSE: BG), and Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC). If elected to the Masimo Board, Quentin would bring a shareholder perspective as one of the Company’s largest owners, in addition to highly relevant corporate governance, capital allocation and finance experience.
Mr. Koffey stated:
“As a 9% owner of Masimo, Politan is fully aligned with the success of the Company and its ability to generate long-term value. We believe independent oversight is needed on the Board in order to fix the lack of confidence in Masimo’s governance that has led to a persistent valuation discount of over $4 billion. This is why Politan has nominated two ideally qualified director candidates for election at the 2023 Annual Meeting who are committed to representing the interests of all shareholders.
Over the past eight months, we have attempted to engage constructively with Masimo’s Board – but they have refused to even meet with us. Despite our track record of working privately with companies to fix strategic, operational and governance matters, Masimo’s Board has taken an extraordinarily aggressive and hostile approach to our engagement. The Board has enacted widely criticized and illegal bylaws, attempted to use litigation to force Politan to disclose commercially sensitive information and tried to contact and pressure Politan’s own investors. These actions are consistent with Masimo’s history of disregard for shareholders and further evidence of the need for change. Following the Company’s March 23rd announcement that it would adopt some long overdue governance changes, we again attempted to work constructively with the Company, only to find the same utter lack of interest in engagement.
Together, Michelle and I would bring a unique set of needed skills to the Masimo Board. She has deep expertise from decades spent in relevant roles at one of the most respected healthcare and consumer products companies in the world, in addition to experience as a public company director. I would add a true independent ownership perspective and my experience from dozens of collaborative engagements focused on improving capital allocation and corporate governance at companies across sectors. We both believe in the future of Masimo and that it has the opportunity for tremendous ongoing success. By electing us, shareholders will be adding to the Board independent, objective directors with the right skills and experience to help the Company maximize its potential for all its stakeholders.
We look forward to engaging with our fellow shareholders in the near future.”
For additional information, shareholders can visit www.AdvanceMasimo.com.
Full Biographies of Politan’s Nominees
Michelle Brennan is an accomplished healthcare executive with over 30 years of experience at Johnson & Johnson. Michelle most recently served as Global Value Creation Leader and a member of the Medical Device Executive Leadership Team. Prior to this, she held a variety of roles, including Company Group Chair of J&J’s Medical Device business in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Over her tenure, Michelle had P&L responsibility for a more than $5 billion medical device business operating across diverse business models and geographies. She also successfully scaled multiple businesses from inception to several billion in revenue and led efforts to invest in innovation as well as optimize the R&D process, which resulted in more effective and profitable product launches and more efficient spend. Michelle has broad operational experience across medical devices and consumer pharmaceuticals and is known for her expertise in strategy implementation, new product innovation, and business transformation.
Michelle is currently an independent director at Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) and is a member of the Audit and Human Resources & Compensation Committees. She recently served on the Board of Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP) as an independent director, where she was Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee, until the completion of Coupa’s acquisition by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion in February of 2023. Michelle holds a BA from the University of Kansas and has attended Executive MBA courses at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Quentin Koffey is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Politan Capital, a top shareholder of Masimo Corporation. In this role, Quentin leads efforts to work actively with management teams, boards of directors, and shareholders of portfolio companies on strategic, operational, and corporate governance matters to unlock long-term value for shareholders. Prior to founding Politan, Quentin was a partner at Senator Investment Group LP, where he created and led its shareholder engagement efforts, and a Portfolio Manager for Strategic Investments at The D.E. Shaw Group, where he started and led the firm’s shareholder engagement strategy. Quentin also served as a Portfolio Manager at Elliott Management Corporation where he focused on active investments in public and private equity and credit.
Over his career, Quentin has established a track record of working constructively with boards and management teams to enhance shareholder value, including at companies such as Centene (NYSE: CNC), Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW), Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX), Bunge (NYSE: BG), and Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC). Quentin holds a BA from Yale College, a JD from Stanford Law School, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
