Thursday, August 22, 2013

Charles Knowles new letter to the Advanced Photonix (API) board

My Note: I just saw Charles Knowles latest letter to the API Board which he posted on InvestorVillage. It's relevant in my mind to the proxy vote, so I am sharing it with readers, so you can make up your own mind. I don't know Dr. Fogelsong, and by reposting this letter, I do not attest to it's accuracy. I share for your information, do your own due diligence.
http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=4804&mn=21081&pt=msg&mid=13063665
(Also read my friend John Anderson's insightful comment to my earlier post, which he could not post for technical reasons, which is found at the bottom of this post, in the comments section)

Letter to board this evening

I think I emailed you Doc's response last year that he would be on the board with no compensation until API is profitable. That is still his position. 
In reference to the part of the call with Lance Brewer, that I do not remember, about the experience of large institutions not having relevance to a small entrepreneurial company, we continue to disagree. But even if there was any merit to your argument Doc has been and /or is on the boards of 4 small companies:Medoworks Inc,(revenue 1 million/year), Michael Barker Corp(BKR) (revenue 500 million),Cdex Inc. (revenue 20 million) and Stark Aerospace,Inc ( revenue less than 100 Million). 

I think all but Medoworks were on his corporate experience. 

Unless your arguement is that too much experience, education, and political influence is bad for API, then Doc still is willing to be on the board as an additional board member for no compensation. I once again ask you to do a complete exam which would require an interview. 

Thank You, 
Chuck Knowles 

2 comments:

Terahertz Technology said...

Randy, tried posting a comment. Don't know if it took. Here it is:


As a long suffering shareholder of API I couldn't agree with you more. I can not fathom why the BOD/Kurtz are so against upgrading, which should help the company, shareholders and share price. As you mention, the current board is not experienced in Thz, telecom or military/medical products. If the past decade has proven anything, it is that these men are not qualified to lead API into the next level. It is counterproductive to have 3 people from the same company on the board. Beside the cronyism, the lack of insight into the most important areas of API's business is apparent. It is time to get people from the Ciscos , 3ms, Honeywells or Lucents of the world. Dr. Fogelsong has more than enough qualifications and contacts to,make him a worthy addition. It is time for the current BOD to stop being so petty, arrogant and bullheaded and agree to add some qualified people. The shareholders and employees deserve this. If they want to continue to fight this, they might want to consider their poor performance the past decade, where the only gains in revs have been by buying sales, not growing them. The market is telling them through the paltry stock price what it thinks of their performance. Time to listen, gentlemen.
John M Anderson

Terahertz Technology said...

Here is one more comment from a poster on InvestorVillage who had difficulty posting here, and asked me to include his opinion which I am happy to post.
"

"First Randy, let me thank you for all of the effort that you have put into your blog. It is the only repository of THZ information that I am aware of............so congrat's for that!. As a long term shareholder of API, I have become dismayed at the treatment that the CEO and Board gives to the shareholders. It is beyond comprehension; the total dis-regard and disdain that they exhibit time and time again. One would think that with their dismal track record that they would seek every opportunity to listen and obtain suggestions on how they might improve the situation. Rather than taking that course, they dig their heels in and defend their record as if it is something to be proud of. Personally, I do not think that ten years or so of consecutive losses is a record that I would want to staunchly defend. My message for them would be to shut up and stop defending their record, put up or get the hell out of the way so that API as a company can succeed." KaptnJ http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=4804&mn=21084&pt=msg&mid=13064711