PALM BEACH, Fla., July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Digital
Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: GDSI), a company that is positioning itself
as a leader in providing cyber arms manufacturing and complementary
security and technology solutions, today announced that
Stephen L. Norris has been elected
Vice Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors. In his
role as Vice Chairman, Mr. Norris will work closely with GDSI's
Chairman and CEO, Richard J.
Sullivan, to implement the Company's global growth and
acquisition strategy.
As announced on July 2, 2014, Mr.
Norris was recently appointed to GDSI's Board of Directors and
named Chairman and CEO of GDSI International. Prior to joining
GDSI, Mr. Norris served as Chairman of Stephen Norris Capital
Partners, LLC. In addition, he is one of five
co-founders of The Carlyle Group, a major merchant bank based in
Washington, D.C. From
1988-1997, Mr. Norris served as Carlyle's President. He was a
principal participant and key advisor in Carlyle's numerous
investments in various public and private companies.
"I'm very pleased that the Board has elected Steve Norris as our Vice Chairman," said
Richard J. Sullivan, GDSI's
President and CEO. "Steve's experience is second-to-none in
all areas related to structuring, negotiating and implementing a
wide range of financing strategies and I have no doubt that Steve
will prove to be an invaluable partner and advisor to me in shaping
our long-term profitable growth and acquisition strategy going
forward. Steve agrees wholeheartedly that the dynamic forces
of technological convergence and consolidation are reshaping the
highly fragmented military armament and security-related
communications industries. This presents GDSI with enormous
growth opportunities. As previously announced, our growth
plan is based on a systematic program of targeted acquisitions, and
I believe Steve is the ideal person to help us successfully pursue
this strategy."
More About Stephen L. Norris, JD, LLM
The Honorable
Stephen L. Norris served on the Board of Directors of each major
Carlyle Group portfolio company and played a major role in
strategic decisions. During his tenure, Carlyle's investments
produced very successful returns for the investors, averaging
approximately a realized 40% internal rate of return (IRR).
Most notably, Mr. Norris had direct responsibility for well
over $1 billion in investments, in
addition to directing and managing a prominent investor's
investment in the recapitalization of Citibank now Citigroup. Mr.
Norris' business relationships also made possible this investor's
subsequent investments in Euro Disney and Four Seasons Hotels.
By the end of 1998, these three investments had produced well
over $10 billion in profits.
In 1992, Mr. Norris was appointed by President George Bush, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate,
as one of the five board members of the approximately (at the time)
$68 billion Federal Retirement Thrift
Investment Board. During his tenure (1992-1995), Mr. Norris
successfully advocated for the right of Federal employees to
allocate a greater portion of their savings into public
equities. Until late 1996, Mr. Norris served on the Advisory
Committee of SEAG, Inc. which advises the Saudi Government on
economic development and diversification within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Prior to co-founding Carlyle, Mr. Norris was a Corporate Vice
President of Marriott Corporation in Washington, D.C. He was a principal strategist
and advisor for Marriott's substantial public and private
financings, limited partnerships, acquisitions and divestitures
from 1981 to mid-1987.
Mr. Norris was a Fellow at Yale Law School (1977) and received a
B.S. and J.D. (1972, 1975) with honors from the University of Alabama, and an L.L.M. from
New York University (1976).
About Richard J.
Sullivan
GDSI's Chairman and CEO is an
entrepreneurial pioneer. In 1970, he was a founding member of
the management team of Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc., which
listed at $7.50 per share and was
sold to Schlumberger N.V. in 1980 at $65 per share. Under Sullivan's decade-long
leadership at Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. ("Applied"), the
Company completed over 40 acquisitions and grew annual revenue from
$1 million to over $350 million over five years. Applied was
recognized as one of the country's fastest-growing technology
companies, regularly topping the NASDAQ in trading volume.
The Company's stock price rose from $2.50 to $18.00 per
share, reaching a peak market capitalization of approximately
$2.5 billion.
About Global Digital Solutions, Inc.
Global Digital
Solutions is positioning itself as a leader in providing cyber arms
manufacturing and complementary security and technology
solutions. On June 18, 2014,
GDSI announced the acquisition of North American Custom Specialty
Vehicles, LLC (NACSV), a leading builder of mobile
command/communications and specialty vehicles for emergency
management, first responders, national security and law enforcement
operations. For more information about NACSV's suite of
advanced vehicles, click here or visit
http://www.gdsi.co/nacs_vehicles.html. For more
information about GDSI, visit http://www.gdsi.co.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains
"forward looking statements". The statements contained in this
press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements give the Company's current
expectations or forecasts of future events. Such statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that are often difficult to
predict and beyond the Company's control, and could cause the
Company's results to differ materially from those described.
In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by
terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue,"
"expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"estimates," and similar expressions. These statements include
statements regarding moving forward with executing the Company's
global growth strategy. The statements are based upon current
beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number
of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict.
The Company is providing this information as of the date of this
press release and does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward looking statements contained in this press release as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law. We have based these forward looking
statements largely on our current expectations and projections
about future events and financial trends affecting the financial
condition of our business. Forward looking statements should
not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and
will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or
by, which such performance or results will be achieved.
Important factors that could cause such differences include, but
are not limited to the Risk Factors and other information set forth
in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 28, 2014, and in our other filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Richard J. Sullivan
561-515-6163
info@gdsi.co
SOURCE Global Digital Solutions, Inc.