- Mr. Gene Michael Bennett Named Chair of Audit Committee -
BEIJING, Oct. 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- China Agritech, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CAGC) ("China Agritech" or "the Company"), a leading national-level liquid organic compound fertilizer manufacturer and distributor in China, today announced that its board of directors has named three independent directors: Mr. Gene Michael Bennett, Professor Lunzhang Dai, and Mr. Hailin Zhang. With today's additions and after the resignation of Mr. Tao Liang, the Company's board now comprises five directors. Mr. Bennett is also named the chairman of the Audit Committee.
"We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Bennett, Professor Dai and Mr. Zhang to serve on China Agritech's board of directors," said Mr. Yu Chang, Chief Executive Officer of China Agritech. "This expansion of our board will further enhance China Agritech's corporate governance, especially in its compliance with the U.S. GAAP and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. We look forward to the leadership and expertise of these three independent directors to help guide us through the slowdown in the macro environment, but more importantly to help us prepare for the migration to a main exchange. And with our migration, we expect to gain more visibility as the Company captures the rising demand in China's organic fertilizer space."
Mr. Bennett has over 25 years of experience as chief financial officer, accounting and audit professor, and financial consultant. From 2004 to present, he has been the managing partner for Beijing-based Nexis Investment Consulting Corporation, helping Chinese companies establish good corporate governance and raise funds. From 2000 to 2004, he was a partner at ProCFO, a California-based contract-CFO consulting firm. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Bennett was a professor and lecturer in accounting and taxes for University of Hawaii, and Chaminade University of Honolulu. Prior to that, he was CFO and board member of Argonaut Computers; professor and lecturer in accounting and taxes at California State University at Fullerton; and CPA with Gerbel Butzbaugh which became part of Grant Thornton.
Mr. Bennett holds a B.A. and MBA from Michigan State University and is currently pursuing a doctorate of business administration at City University of Hong Kong in corporate governance.
Professor Dai has served on the Planning Committee of the North-East Cooperative Bank in China since 2003, currently serving as its Secretary General. Mr. Dai is also a full-time professor for the Academy of International Economic Relations, a research institution sponsored by the People's Bank of China, where he has taught courses in international economics since 1983, and has been retained as a part-time professor at several Chinese universities as well as a visiting professor of international economics in the graduate programs of Queens College, City University of New York and of the American University. Mr. Dai is a fellow in the Institute of Internal Auditors and received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Moscow. He was a visiting scholar to Kiel University in Germany and London School of Economics in England.
Mr. Zhang has served as Vice Principal of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Resources since May 2003. He is also the Division Deputy Director of the Agricultural Research Institute in China, a position in which he has served since June 1996. He graduated from Renmin University of China major in management in 1987.
About China Agritech, Inc.
China Agritech, Inc. is engaged in the development, manufacturing and distribution of liquid organic compound fertilizers and related products in China. The Company has developed proprietary formulas that provide a continuous supply of high-quality agricultural products while maintaining soil fertility. The Company sells its products to farmers located in 26 provinces of China.
For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.chinaagritechinc.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of China Agritech and its subsidiary companies, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes, expects" or similar expressions, including but not limited to, statements regarding the continued demand for China Agritech's products, China Agritech's ability to sustain growth for the balance of the year and China Agritech's ability to generally meet all of its objectives. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including all business uncertainties relating to product development, marketing, concentration in a single customer, raw material costs, market acceptance, future capital requirements, and competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, China Agritech is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
