NES Rentals Holding last week announced the appointment of a new board of directors. The seven-member board, chaired by John Neafsey, officially began its duties on April 6.
“Members of this board were selected from some of the finest businessmen in the industry, and we’re confident they will help steer NES to a bright future,” said Duff Meyercord, a partner at Carl Marks Consulting Group and NES’ chief restructuring officer. “The members understand and strongly believe in the future of NES and will drive the initiatives needed to fulfill that potential.”
John Neafsey has extensive investment and management experience and is president of JN Associates, an investment consulting firm. He is chairman of Alliance Coal Co. and a director of Constar Inc. He also serves on the board of the West Pharmaceutical Services Co.
Walter Schuetze will serve as NES Rentals’ audit committee chair. A certified public accountant, Schuetze was chief accountant to the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission from January 1992 through his retirement in March 1995. He is audit committee chair on the boards of directors for Computer Associates International and TransMontaigne.
Scott Meadow will serve as the head of NES Rentals’ compensation committee. Meadow is a clinical professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.
Douglas Ball is founder and president of Marlemar, a Chicago-based management consulting company that assists start-up ventures.
R. Barry Uber served as a corporate officer and president of Ingersoll-Rand’s $1.2 billion Construction and Mining Group from 1995 to 1998. Most recently, Uber was president and COO of American Commercial Barge Line. Uber is, apparently, the only board member with experience close to the construction equipment and rental industries.
Michael Scott is founder and CEO of ICap Inc., a Great Falls, Va.-based consulting and investment banking firm specializing in the development, construction and systems integration industries, with extensive experience in state contracting.
The seventh board position will be filled temporarily by Michael Watchorn, a managing director of Oaktree Capital Management llc. He is currently a backup portfolio manager in the high-yield bond group based in Los Angeles.
The board’s first task will be to appoint a new CEO for NES Rentals. The CEO will become the seventh board member, replacing Watchorn, and will assume the directorship. A group of potential CEO candidates has been slated and the board will oversee the final selection.
Headquartered in Chicago, NES Rentals is No. 5 on the RER 100.
