In the News
Crown Castle Announces Comprehensive Fiber Review and Additions to the Board
Forms New Committees to Lead Review of the Fiber Business, Search for New CEO
Appoints Jason Genrich and Sunit Patel to the Board
Enters into Cooperation Agreement with Elliott Investment Management
HOUSTON, Dec. 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE: CCI) (“Crown Castle” or the “Company”) today announced a comprehensive review of the Company’s fiber business and the addition of two new independent directors to the Company’s Board. The initiatives were announced in connection with a cooperation agreement with Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Elliott”), pursuant to which Crown Castle will appoint Jason Genrich, Senior Portfolio Manager at Elliott, and Sunit Patel, former Chief Financial Officer of Level-3 Communications and Executive Vice President of T-Mobile, to the Company’s Board of Directors.
As part of this agreement, Crown Castle has formed the following special committees of the Board:
Fiber Review Committee. The Fiber Review Committee will direct a strategic and operating review of the Company’s fiber business, with the goal of enhancing and unlocking shareholder value. The Fiber Review Committee will be chaired by P. Robert Bartolo (Chair of the Crown Castle Board) and will include four additional directors, including Anthony J. Melone (the Company’s interim Chief Executive Officer), Kevin A. Stephens, and newly appointed directors Mr. Genrich and Mr. Patel. Together, the Fiber Review Committee members will work to determine the best path forward for the fiber business and will make their recommendations to the full Board. The Company will not comment further on the strategic review unless and until the Board has approved a specific course of action or until it determines that further disclosure is appropriate or necessary. Financial advisors to the Fiber Review Committee will be Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and BofA Securities, and legal counsel will be Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
CEO Search Committee. In connection with the Company’s previously announced CEO transition, the Board has established a CEO Search Committee to conduct the search to identify Crown Castle’s next CEO. The CEO Search Committee will be chaired by Tammy K. Jones and will also include Mr. Bartolo, Mr. Genrich and Kevin T. Kabat.
“Today’s announcements reinforce our commitment to taking actions that best position the Company for long term success, including our Board’s regular evaluation of all paths to enhance shareholder value,” said Chair Bartolo. “Jason and Sunit bring valuable financial, operational and fiber expertise to our Board. We look forward to benefitting from their experience and insights. As we look ahead, I am confident that Crown Castle, as owners of the some of the best located tower and fiber assets in the U.S., will identify the best path forward to capitalize on significant opportunities for growth in our industry.”
“Today’s announcements mark a significant step forward toward a stronger and more valuable Crown Castle,” said Elliott Senior Portfolio Manager Jason Genrich. “We appreciate the constructive dialogue we have had with Crown Castle’s Board to date, and I look forward to working with my fellow directors to evaluate the Company’s strategic direction from here, including by conducting a comprehensive review of the fiber business and running a robust process to identify the Company’s next CEO. Crown Castle has the preeminent portfolio of strategic tower and fiber assets in the United States, and I am confident that this agreement will pave the way for a new chapter of value creation for its shareholders.”
In connection with today’s appointments, W. Benjamin Moreland and Maria M. Pope will be stepping down from the Board. As a result, the Board will be comprised of 12 directors, 11 of whom are independent. As previously announced, Jay Brown will step down as a Director of the Company, effective January 16, 2024.
Mr. Bartolo continued, “On behalf of the Crown Castle team, I want to thank Ben and Maria for their dedicated service to the Company. During Ben’s two decade-plus tenure in a variety of leadership roles, he played a pivotal role in positioning the business for the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead. Similarly, we appreciate Maria’s contributions and her expertise in helping to navigate a volatile environment over the last year. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
The agreement with Elliott also contains customary standstill, voting and other provisions. The full agreement between Crown Castle and Elliott will be filed on a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the charter for the new Fiber Review Committee will be available on Crown Castle’s website.
About Jason Genrich
Jason Genrich is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Elliott Investment Management, focusing on investments across the TMT industry and leading Elliott’s activities in a wide variety of technology, software, IT hardware and digital infrastructure companies across public equity, private equity and credit investments. From 2021 to 2022, Mr. Genrich served on the public Board of Switch Inc., and was a member on the REIT Committee and Special Committee of the Board prior to its sale to Digital Bridge and IFM. Mr. Genrich currently serves on the Boards of Cloud Software Group (formerly Citrix and TIBCO Software), GoTo (formerly LogMeIn) and Travelport Worldwide. From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Genrich was a private equity investor at GTCR on the TMT investment team, with an emphasis on digital infrastructure, including wireless towers, fiber infrastructure, cable MSOs and other broadband infrastructure businesses. From 2009 to 2011, Mr. Genrich worked in the Technology M&A advisory group at Evercore Partners.
About Sunit Patel
Sunit Patel is the Chief Financial Officer of Ibotta Inc., a North American cashback rewards and mobile technology platform. Mr. Patel has more than 25 years of executive leadership, including 15 years as a public telecommunications company CFO. In 2000, Mr. Patel co-founded Looking Glass Networks Inc., a facilities-based provider of metropolitan telecommunication transport services and served as its CFO until 2003. From 2003 to 2018, Mr. Patel served EVP and CFO of CenturyLink, now Lumen, a role he held for over 14 years at Level 3 prior to its 2017 merger with CenturyLink. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Patel served as EVP, Merger and Integration at T-Mobile, where he led T-Mobile's strategic planning efforts to integrate its business with Sprint following the companies' $26.5 billion merger.
Mr. Patel currently serves on the Board of Cirion Technologies, a leading digital infrastructure and technology provider, offering a comprehensive suite of fiber network, connectivity, colocation, cloud infrastructure, and communication and collaboration solutions.
Advisors
BofA Securities is serving as financial advisor to Crown Castle in connection with the cooperation agreement with Elliott, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP are serving as legal counsel. Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP is serving as legal counsel to Elliott.
CAUTIONARY LANGUAGE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts are hereby identified as forward-looking statements. In addition, words such as "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "expect," "likely," "predicted," "positioned," "continue," "target," "seek," "focus" and any variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include (1) statements and expectations regarding the process and outcomes of Company’s Fiber Review Committee, including that it will help enhance and unlock shareholder value, (2) statements and expectations regarding the process and outcomes of CEO Search Committee, including that it will conduct the search to identify Crown Castle’s next CEO, (3) that the actions set forth in this press release best position the Company for long term success, including our Board’s regular evaluation of all paths to enhance shareholder value, (4) that the Company will benefit from the experience and insights of the newly appointed directors, (5) that the Company will identify the best path forward to capitalize on significant opportunities for growth in our industry. Such forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including prevailing market conditions, risk factors described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 ("2022 Form 10-K") and other factors. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected.
Our filings with the SEC are available through the SEC website at www.sec.gov or through our investor relations website at investor.crowncastle.com. We use our investor relations website to disclose information about us that may be deemed to be material. We encourage investors, the media and others interested in us to visit our investor relations website from time to time to review up-to-date information or to sign up for e-mail alerts to be notified when new or updated information is posted on the site.
ABOUT CROWN CASTLE
Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 85,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them. For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.
CONTACTS
Kris Hinson, VP & Treasurer
Crown Castle Inc.
713-570-3050
Lack of Encryption the Primary Reason for Sensitive Data Loss
New ESG Study Finds That Organizations Struggle in Their Ability to Assess and Remediate Data Encryption Risks and Policy Violations
SANTA CLARA, Calif., December 8, 2023
Fortanix® Inc., a leader in data security and pioneer of Confidential Computing, today revealed the results of a new study conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) titled “Operationalizing Encryption and Key Management.” Among the findings: lack of encryption is the primary contributor to sensitive data loss, even though confidence in cryptographic capabilities is strong. At the same time, encryption is pervasive and on the rise for data at rest, in motion, and in use.
Read full article: https://www.fortanix.com/company/pr/2023/12/lack-of-encryption-the-primary-reason-for-sensitive-data-loss
Federated Wireless and City of Tukwila Launch Innovative CBRS Private LTE Network for Student Learning
Funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce,1,200 students without home internet now have remote connectivity to learning tools
Tukwila, WA and Arlington, VA — November 28, 2023 — Federated Wireless, a leading provider of shared spectrum connectivity, today announced the launch of an innovative CBRS private LTE network in partnership with the City of Tukwila, Washington, that will enable students without home internet across the Tukwila school district to access web-based learning from home using pre-provisioned Chromebooks.
Read full article: https://www.federatedwireless.com/news/federated-wireless-and-city-of-tukwila-launch-innovative-cbrs-private-lte-network-for-student-learning/
Announcing Fortanix Key Insight – An Industry-First Solution to Discover and Remediate Data Security Risks in Hybrid Multicloud Environments
Key Insight introduces data-driven insights to assess the risk posture of encryption keys and cloud data services, fortifying data security and compliance with policies and regulations
SANTA CLARA, Calif., November 27, 2023
Fortanix® Inc., a leader in data security and pioneer of Confidential Computing, today announced Key Insight, a new industry-first capability in the Fortanix Data Security Manager™(DSM) platform designed to help enterprises discover, assess, and remediate risk and compliance gaps across hybrid multicloud environments. At AWS re:Invent 2023, Fortanix will showcase the capabilities of Key Insight at booth #118.
Read full article: https://www.fortanix.com/company/pr/2023/11/announcing-fortanix-key-insight-an-industry-first-solution-to-discover-and-remediate-data-security-risks
Visionary cleantech leader to lead Membrion Board of Directors
Seattle, November 2, 2023 – Electro-ceramic desalination technology innovator, Membrion announced the new chair of their Board of Directors, Wayne Byrne.
“Wayne is an accomplished CEO with a passion for cleantech and water technology, and we are pleased to welcome him as the chair of our Board of Directors,” said Greg Newbloom, founder and chief executive officer of Membrion. “While Wayne has a valuable, broad-based acumen for how to grow businesses on a global scale, the unique ability he brings to benefit Membrion is his decades-long focus on waste-to-resource and water technology.”
Read full press release: https://membrion.com/visionary-cleantech-leader-to-lead-membrion-board-of-directors/
Fortanix Introduces New Data Sovereignty Solutions To Help Organizations Meet Evolving Global Data Security and Privacy Requirements
Fortanix Data Security Manager™ Now Offers External Key Management For All Google Workspace Apps That Use Client-Side Encryption
EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands and SANTA CLARA, Calif., October 10, 2023
Fortanix® Inc., the data security company and pioneer of Confidential Computing, today announced new capabilities for Fortanix Data Security Manager (DSM) to help public and private organizations address growing data sovereignty requirements globally. Available now, the existing and new features deliver several key capabilities, including support for sovereign cloud, storing keys in sovereign boundaries, anonymization of private data, centralized control to manage access and enforce consistent policies across hybrid and multicloud environments, and more, all delivered via an intuitive user experience.
Read full article: https://www.fortanix.com/company/pr/2023/10/fortanix-introduces-new-data-security-manager-capabilities
Federated Wireless and University of Colorado Boulder Awarded $5 Million to Advance Secure 5G Communications for Department of Defense
ARLINGTON, VA, September 28, 2023 – Federated Wireless, a leading innovator in 5G and CBRS private wireless networks, today announced it will provide critical technologies and commercial support to the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator grant to develop new technologies enabling secure military and government communications over 5G networks globally.
This is Phase 2 of an initial NSF award to CU Boulder and Federated Wireless in September 2022.
With FCC Advancement Toward AFC Certification, Federated Wireless Commercial-Grade Solution Ready for Market
Arlington, VA – August 24, 2023 – Federated Wireless, a leader in shared spectrum and private wireless solutions, today applauded the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) public notice initiating the certification process for Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems in the 6 GHz band, including Federated Wireless’ existing commercial-grade solution.
Read Full Article: https://www.federatedwireless.com/news/with-fcc-advancement-toward-afc-certification-federated-wireless-commercial-grade-solution-ready-for-market/
Federated Wireless to Deliver Private 4G and 5G Networks via New VMware Private Mobile Network Service
Arlington, VA – August 22, 2023 – Federated Wireless, a shared spectrum and private wireless leader, today announced its selection by VMware to deliver private 4G and 5G networks-as-a-service for enterprises in the form of the new VMware Private Mobile Network Service.
Read full article: https://www.federatedwireless.com/news/federated-wireless-to-deliver-private-4g-and-5g-networks-via-new-vmware-private-mobile-network-service/
Membrion Series B round closes at $12.5M Samsung Ventures and Lam Capital invest in Membrion sustainable solutions for industrial and semiconductor wastewater
Membrion Series B round closes at $12.5M
Samsung Ventures and Lam Capital invest in Membrion sustainable solutions for industrial and semiconductor wastewater
Seattle, August 8, 2023 – Electro-ceramic desalination membrane manufacturer, Membrion today announced the completion of their Series B funding round, raising a round total of 12.5 million dollars. The second close of 5.5 million dollars is anchored by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Lam Capital. They are joined by Indico Capital Partners, Harvard Business School New York Alumni Angel Group, New York Angels, and GiantLeap Capital.
Federated Wireless Partners with World Wide Technology to Deliver Turnkey Private Wireless LTE and 5G Solutions
Packaged services will expand access to cost-effective, scalable, enterprise-level private wireless solutions
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Federated Wireless, Inc., a shared spectrum and private wireless leader, announced today a new partnership with World Wide Technology (WWT) to deliver turnkey private wireless LTE and 5G solutions to enterprises and carriers. The partnership brings accessibility, flexibility and simplicity to private wireless LTE and 5G consumption models.
Fortanix and Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE) Partner to Deliver Revolutionary Multicloud SaaS Data Security Offering to the Saudi Arabian Market
Fortanix’s confidential computing powered technology would be available as a jointly branded managed SaaS offering, with a new data sovereignty region dedicated to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The Industry's First Data Masking and Tokenization SaaS Solution Gains Momentum with Adoption Across Fortune 500 and Global 2000 Customers
Expands Ecosystem With Support From World-Class Brands Including SAP and Imperva to Deliver Compelling Value to Joint Customers
Read Full Article: https://www.fortanix.com/company/pr/2023/07/industry-first-saas-based-data-masking-and-tokenization-solution
This Is How Confidential Computing Will Drive Generative AI Adoption
Generative AI adoption is on the rise. Yet, many organizations are wary of using the technology to generate insights due to concerns over data privacy.
Read More: https://www.techopedia.com/confidential-computing-generative-ai
Top 34 Water Treatment Companies to Watch for 2023
Clean and safe water is a vital resource for various purposes, from drinking and sanitation to industrial processes. With the increasing global population, urbanization, and industrialization, the demand for effective water treatment solutions has been steadily rising. Water treatment companies play a crucial role in ensuring that water from various sources is purified and made safe for consumption or other applications.
In this blog post, we will explore the top water tech innovators to watch for in 2023. These companies have established themselves as leaders in the industry and are at the forefront of providing innovative solutions to address water-related challenges.
Read More: https://omdena.com/blog/top-water-treatment-companies/
Harvard Business News 2023 Rising Stars - Tjada D’Oyen McKenna
The mission of the HBSWA is to support HBS women in their professional and personal development as well as continue to fund our HBS Fellowship. To that end we are seeking nominations of women who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments.
Nominees might include entrepreneurs whose companies have exhibited sustainability and growth, corporate rising stars or someone who has founded, participated significantly in driving forward the mission of a not-for-profit or a combination of these achievements. This is an exciting opportunity for us to recognize women in achieving significant and meaningful growth in their careers.
See full article: https://www.hbswany.org/s/1738/cc/21/page.aspx?sid=1738&gid=13&pgid=80248
Federated Wireless Demonstrates Operational 5G Private Wireless Network Powering U.S. Department of Defense Smart Warehouse of the Future
https://www.federatedwireless.com/news/federated-wireless-demonstrates-operational-5g-private-wireless-network-powering-u-s-department-of-defense-smart-warehouse-of-the-future/
Cal Poly, Federated Wireless and T-Mobile Unveil Public-Private Network Interoperability and Supercharged Wireless Network Experiences on Campus
https://www.federatedwireless.com/news/cal-poly-federated-wireless-and-t-mobile-unveil-public-private-network-interoperability-and-supercharged-wireless-network-experiences-on-campus/