Kaufus names four new board members
However, four new directors were voted in at the company's annual general meeting in Vancouver last week. The four new members are Randal Maffett, VP, Enron North America Corp.; Peter Schlesinger, financial consultant; Michael Cunningham, chairman of The Coach House Group (UK) LTD; and Lynda Murdock, senior VP of Kafus Industries. At the annual meeting, the company reports that 81.07% of its issued and outstanding 29,952,569 common shares were represented in person or by proxy.
Last month, Ken Swaisland, founder of Kafus, and its largest shareholder, resigned his position as CEO as well as his seat as chairman on the board of directors. In accepting Swaisland's resignation, the company pointed out that he "established the long-term vision of sustainability for Kafus and was instrumental in its growth and development." Michael McCabe, Kaufus president was appointed interim CEO while the company conducts a search for a new chief executive.
Through its subsidiary CanFibre Group of Toronto, Kaufus operates an MDF (medium density fiberboard) plant in Riverside, CA, and is approaching startup of another MDF plant at Lackawanna , NY, both of which are able to use 100% recovered urban wood waste. Kaufus is also involved in several "tree-free" newsprint mill developments based on the use of fiber from kenaf, a fast-growing member of the Hibiscus family, a close relative of the cotton plant that, that starting from seed, can mature at heights up to 14 ft in less than seven months. Kenaf stalks reportedly provide two to three times more fiber/acre/year than southern pine, a paper industry staple in the southern USA. Kaufus is also involved in the production of natural fiber composites to replace fiberglass and other non-recyclable materials, the manufacturing of a cement/fiber alternative to wood and metal siding, and the conversion of animal and food processing waste into feed and organic fertilizer.
By Ken Patrick