Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Principal Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Principal Officers
(b) Effective August 20, 2010, the board of directors of Abakan Inc. (the “Corporation”) accepted the resignation of David Greenbaum as chief financial officer, principal accounting officer and director.
(c) Effective August 20, 2010, the board of directors of the Corporation appointed Costas Takkas as chief financial officer and principal accounting officer.
Mr. Takkas, a practicing Chartered Accountant, brings to the Corporation over 25 years of financial experience andexpertise. He has acted as a director and officer of numerous development-stage public companies involved with projects in the technology, mining, construction, gaming, drug development and medical equipment industries. Mr. Takkas currently serves as a director of Sonnen Corporation, a development stage public company involved in research and development into alternative fuel cells and related technologies.
Mr. Takkas is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ACA) and graduated with a B.Sc. (Honors) in Physics and an Associate Royal College of Science (ARCS) from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, in 1978.
Mr. Takkas has entered into an employment agreement with the Corporation in connection with his appointments as chief financial officer and principal accounting officer. The employment agreement provides for a two year term, compensation of $96,000 per annum, and 200,000 stock options exercisable at $0.65.
Mr. Takkas has not entered into any other agreements, arrangements or understandings with the Corporation or any other persons in connection with his appointment as chief financial officer and principal accounting officer.
Mr. Takkas is not related to any members of the Corporation’s board of directors.
(d) Effective August 20, 2010, the Corporation’s board of directors appointed Andy Sherman to serve as a director.
Mr. Sherman has been in the nano engineered coatings field for 25 years and has built a number of businesses as a serial entrepreneur. He serves as CEO for MesoCoat, Inc. (“MesoCoat”),an Ohio basedadvanced nanocomposite ceramic-metallic (cermet) coatings company, and CEO of Powdermet Inc. (“Powdermet”), a company which he founded in 1996 to develop nanocomposite materials and manufacturing technologies. Prior to founding Powdermet, Mr. Sherman was Chief Metallurgist and New Business Development Manager for Ultramet, Inc., a leading Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) company, in Pacoima, California, where his technical and business developments resulted in a 10-fold growth in company revenues an d the creation of three spinouts (including a $100M plus exit). Mr. Sherman’s developments have been the basis for the formation of eight successful companies to date.
Mr. Sherman was appointed to the United States Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Safety Panel and has served on the review panel since 2006. Panel duties include interfacing with codes and standards, accident investigations, site reviews, H2 (hydrogen) project reviews, and H2 information and training, education, and best practices development.
Mr. Sherman received an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Ceramic Engineering and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University. He has also authored more than 95 papers and presentations on ceramics,metallurgy and composite powder coatings and was recognized with the 2000 R&D 100 award for his patented nano powder production and is a 2009 Ernst and Young entrepreneur of the year finalist.
