Mara Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) has announced the appointment of Janet George and Barbara Humpton to its board of directors, along with the naming of Doug Mellinger as the lead independent director, effective September 1, 2024. These appointments come as part of a planned transition, with George and Humpton replacing Kevin Denuccio and Said Ouissal, who stepped down from the board.
Janet George joins the board with a strong background in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and high-growth technology environments. She has served in senior roles at companies like Intel Corporation, Oracle, Western Digital, Accenture, Yahoo, eBay, and Apple. Her recent role as the corporate vice president and general manager of Data Center & Artificial Intelligence at Intel Corporation involved leading a multi-billion dollar business unit and driving AI/ML software-as-a-service (SaaS) growth. Additionally, she has a track record of scaling businesses and executing large-scale acquisitions, such as Intel's recent $650 million acquisition of a cloud AI-based workload optimization company.
Barbara Humpton, the current President and CEO of Siemens USA, brings extensive experience across public, private, and non-profit sectors. With a focus on energy-efficient technologies, smart infrastructure, and healthcare, Humpton has been driving innovation at Siemens USA, leveraging AI and industrial data for continuous improvement. Her previous senior positions at Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin have contributed to national security and technology advancements.
Doug Mellinger, the newly appointed lead independent director, has been on the Mara board since March 2022. He is known for his extensive experience in technology and finance, having served in various roles and on the boards of several organizations.
These appointments reflect Mara's commitment to enhancing its board with leaders who can contribute to advancing its strategic initiatives in critical areas such as AI, data centers, and energy. The company's Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel, emphasized the importance of bringing AI and AI data center-specific expertise onto the board as the relevance of Mara's digital infrastructure technology and AI data center co-location strategy continues to grow. Additionally, with the expansion of Mara's utility scale mining and energy harvesting business segments, the addition of global energy and power infrastructure expertise is seen as crucial to guide its growth.
Thiel expressed his enthusiasm in welcoming George and Humpton to Mara's board, highlighting their expertise and oversight capabilities that will position Mara for continued success and leadership in the industry.
The press release also expressed gratitude to outgoing board members Denuccio and Ouissal for their dedicated service to Mara.
Mara Holdings, Inc. is a global leader in digital asset compute, with a focus on developing and deploying innovative technologies to build a more sustainable and inclusive future. The company secures the world's preeminent blockchain ledger and supports the energy transformation by converting clean, stranded, or otherwise underutilized energy into economic value. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved -6.9% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $13.86. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.
