BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sebastian Giordano
Chairman of the Board
On January 4, 2022, Mr. Sebastian Giordano was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company to fill a vacancy and elected Chairman of the Board to replace Mr. Mercadante in that role. Mr. Mercadante shall remain a member of the Board. Mr. Sebastian Giordano shall hold office until a successor is elected at an annual or a special meeting of the stockholders of the Company. Mr. Sebastian Giordano was appointed to the Board based on his extensive experience in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, capital raising, strategic alliances, and public companies. Currently or within the last 5 years, he has served on the Boards of Directors of AYRO, Inc., a NASDAQ listed electric vehicle manufacturer, WPCS International Incorporated, and DropCar, a NASDAQ-listed micro-logistics technology, mobility services and cloud-based SaaS software provider to the automotive industry. For the past twenty years, Mr. Sebastian Giordano has been CEO of Ascentaur, LLC (“Ascentaur”), providing C-Level consulting services to a diverse roster of predominantly technology-centric clients, including start-ups, turnarounds, and established businesses across many industries, including provided such services to the Company since February 2020. From 2013 to 2018, he also served as Chief Executive Officer of WPCS International Incorporated, a NASDAQ-listed low-voltage contracting company
John Mercadante
Director
John cofounded Leisure Line, Inc., a motor coach company serving New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1970 and served as the Chief Executive Officer for a ten-year period through the sale of the company to Golden Nugget in 1980. At the time of the sale Leisure Line was generating approximately $11 million in annual revenues. In 1988 John cofounded Cape Transit, Inc., a motor coach company servicing Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and South New Jersey. Under John’s leadership as CEO, annual revenues at Cape Transit grew from $2 million to more than $11 million. In May 1996, Cape Transit became one of the founding companies of Coach USA, Inc. and John became Coach USA’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Coach USA had over 70 acquisitions during the three-year period following their 1996 IPO. John was an integral part of growing Coach’s annual revenues from $100 million to over $1 billion in revenues in just three years. He joined TLSS in April 2019 and served as the Company’s Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer until January 2022.
Charles F. Benton
Director
Mr. Benton, who will serve as the Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, currently serves as an independent Director and Audit Chairman of Vision Hydrogen Corp. (OTC:VIHD), a company focused on the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen for the green energy economy supply chain. In the past, Mr. Benton has held the positions of Audit Committee Chairman and then Chairman of the Board of WPCS International Incorporated (NASDAQ:WPCS), a design-build engineering firm focused on the deployment of wireless networks and related services including site design, technology integration, electrical contracting, construction and maintenance. From 1999 to 2014, Mr. Benton held various supply chain positions, including as Director of Supply Chain Distribution Services at Charming Shoppes, Inc., a specialty clothing retail holding company with more than 2,300 retail stores in the US. From 1980 to 1999, Mr. Benton held various finance positions, including the Head of Finance & Business Development at Consolidated Rail Corp., now Conrail. Mr. Benton received an undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s University and lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
Norman Newton
Director
Mr. Newton, who will serve as
the Chairman of the Nominating Committee and a member of the Audit Committee, is
currently the President and CEO of AmeriCasa Solutions, LLC, a vertically
integrated provider of housing to the Hispanic Community in the United States.
AmeriCasa’s master planned communities provide residents with a host of
resident benefits, community center and other amenities along with model homes,
insurance, and financing. The Company prides itself on its proprietary
technology platform that automates and digitizes much of the home buying
experience. Mr. Newton has also been, since 2008, the Managing
Director of Newton Vision Corporation (“NVC”), a privately held investment
and consulting company with deep experience in business process reengineering,
optimization, and digital transformation. With a center of excellence and a
project management office located in Bogota Colombia, and offices in Houston
and Austin, Texas, NVC provides its customers with a host of solutions
including full business process outsourcing. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Newton
was President and General Manager of ManpowerGroup Public Sector, and he
was General Manager of global operations for ManpowerGroup Solutions – Language
Services, both of which are owned by ManpowerGroup (NYSE:MAN). Mr. Newton has
experience in operating in countries throughout the world and led the company to
be recognized as a top ten provider of services globally within the Language
Services Industry. Mr. Newton also served on ManpowerGroup’s Executive Council
for Supplier Diversity. From 2005 to 2010 Mr. Newton was Vice President of
COMSYS (NASDAQ:CITP), which was purchased by ManpowerGroup in 2010. Mr.
Newton received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in Austin
and lives in Dripping Springs, Texas.
