Paul Tufano Board’s Director, Benchmark Electronics

Benchmark Electronics, Inc. announced the appointment of Paul J. Tufano, who most recently served as CFO of the Alcatel-Lucent Group, as an independent director to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately.

He will stand for re-election at the 2016 annual meeting of shareholders.

Benchmark also announced the retirement of Peter G. Dorflinger from the board of directors. He has served as the COB for the last three years. The board has elected David W. Scheible as non-executive COB, effective immediately.

“We are excited to welcome Paul Tufano to the board of directors, following a thorough process begun in 2015 with the assistance of a leading independent search firm,” said David Scheible. “In the last five years, Benchmark has added three new independent directors, each bringing fresh perspective and experience to the Board. Paul’s appointment reflects our ongoing commitment to add new, independent and highly qualified directors that have the skills, insight and experience to expand the depth and breadth of the Board. We are confident that Paul’s extensive experience in finance, as well as electronics manufacturing, uniquely qualifies him to help oversee the company’s ongoing execution of its strategic plan and focus on driving shareholder returns.”

Scheible added: “On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Peter Dorflinger for his significant contributions and leadership during his distinguished tenure on the Benchmark Board. Peter provided tremendous insight, direction and continuity, particularly during the last three years while serving as the Board’s first non-executive chairman and as Benchmark transitioned to a new CEO. All of us at Benchmark are indebted to Peter for his service and wisdom, and we wish him all the best.”

Tufano was the CFO of the Alcatel-Lucent Group, a telecommunications company, from 2008 through 2013. In September 2012, he was named COO in addition to his CFO responsibilities. Previously, he was EVP and CFO of Solectron Corporation, an electronics manufacturing services company, where he also served as interim CEO. Prior to Solectron, he served as president and CEO of Maxtor Corporation, a manufacturer of computer HDDs, having served previously as COO and as CFO. Prior to joining Maxtor, he held management positions in finance and operations at IBM.

Tufano has served on the board of directors of Teradyne, Inc., a global supplier of automatic test equipment, since 2005, and on the board of directors of EnerSys, a global manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial batteries and related equipment, since 2015. He also served on the board of directors of International Manufacturing Services, Inc., an EMS provider, from 1996 to 1998.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from St. John’s University and a Masters of Business Administration, Finance, Accounting and International Business from Columbia University.

Benchmark noted that Tufano’s appointment is the result of an extensive director search and consistent with the board’s practice of adding new directors on a periodic basis. The search was conducted by an independent search firm under the oversight of the board’s independent nominating/governance committee. The search firm identified Tufano, together with numerous other potential candidates. Prior to appointing Tufano, the board offered Engaged Capital the opportunity to meet with him, which Engaged Capital declined.

Scheible added: “As part of our ongoing outreach and engagement with shareholders, we have received constructive input and a strong endorsement of our corporate governance practices. In keeping with best practices and consistent with feedback received from investors, in 2015, the board of directors approved an executive compensation ‘clawback’ policy relating to incentive compensation for any period in which the company restates its earnings and revised Benchmark’s securities trading policy to clarify the prohibition on officers or directors pledging company securities and directors or employees hedging company securities.”