Eric Kelly CEO of Overland

Overland Storage, Inc. announced the appointment of Eric Kelly, a current member of its board of directors, as the company’s new chief executive officer. Vern LoForti, who previously served as the company’s president and CEO, will continue to serve as president.

Eric Kelly

Kelly joined Overland’s board in November 2007, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in computer technology with an emphasis on operational, marketing and sales expertise. He previously was president of Silicon Valley Management Partners Inc., a management consulting and M&A advisory firm, which he co-founded in 2007. Kelly previously served as president of Maxtor Corporation’s systems business, and also held positions at Dell Computer Corp., Diamond Multimedia, Conner Peripherals and IBM.

In 2002, Kelly assembled a group of private equity investors and engineered the purchase of Snap Appliance from Quantum Corp. for $10 million. Kelly recognized the product line’s inherent value, and, as Snap’s president and CEO, led the business to become the worldwide volume leader in the Network Attached Storage market. Only 18 months later in July 2004, Kelly sold the Snap business to Adaptec, Inc. in a transaction valued at $100.4 million, representing over a 10-fold increase in the value of the business. He then served as vice president and general manager of Adaptec’s storage systems solutions for two more years. Then, in early 2008, after joining Overland’s board the previous November, Kelly saw another opportunity to reacquire Snap as Adaptec put the business on the market. He helped facilitate the acquisition of Snap by Overland in June 2008 for a purchase price of $3.6 million.

"I firmly believe that the intrinsic value of Overland is significantly greater than its current market valuation. The combination of the Snap business, with which I am intimately familiar, the existing Overland product portfolio, and the coveted branded sales channel that Overland has built over the past 20 years, is a potent combination which we plan to leverage," said Kelly. "As a member of a special committee of Overland’s Board formed to review the company’s operations, I have worked closely with the management team to formulate the restructuring plan that was announced earlier this month. We have a solid plan to return the company to profitability, and I am confident that we can execute our strategic plan and build value for our shareholders and employees."

In connection with his appointment as chief executive officer, Mr. Kelly resigned as a member of the company’s audit committee and nominating and governance committee. The company notified NASDAQ today that as a result of Mr. Kelly’s resignation from the audit committee, the company is not in compliance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350(d)(2)(A), which requires the audit committee of each NASDAQ issuer to have at least three independent members, at least one of whom is a financial expert. The audit committee is now comprised of two independent members, one of whom is a financial expert. Under Rule 4350(d)(4)(B), the company will have until the earlier of its next annual meeting of shareholders or January 27, 2010 to regain compliance with Rule 4350(d)(2)(A). In response to the company’s notification, pursuant to Rule 4803(a), the company expects to receive written correspondence from the Staff of the NASDAQ Listing Department regarding its failure to comply with Rule 4350(d)(2)(A), and the company is providing this disclosure pursuant to Nasdaq Rule 4803.