Gautam Patel was appointed to our Board in October 2020. Mr. Patel has served as Managing Director of Tarsadia Investments, a private investment firm based in Newport Beach, California, since 2012. In that role, Mr. Patel has led a team of investment professionals to identify, evaluate and execute principal control equity investments across sectors including life sciences, financial services and technology. Prior to joining Tarsadia, Mr. Patel served as Managing Director at Lazard from 2008 to 2012, where he led financial and strategic advisory efforts in sectors including transportation and logistics, private equity and healthcare. Prior to that, Mr. Patel served in a variety of advisory roles at Lazard from 1999 to 2008, including restructuring, bankruptcy and corporate reorganization assignments in 2001 and 2008. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Patel was an Analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions as well as high-yield and equity financings. Mr. Patel is currently a Board Member of Amneal Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: AMRX) Mr. Patel also serves on the board of Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, a New York-based nonprofit organization which aims to empower children through arts-based education. Mr. Patel received a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College, a B.S. from Harvey Mudd College, an MSc from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Mr. Patel currently serves as Chair of our Audit Committee and as a member of our Compensation Committee.

John Pailthorp was appointed President of the Global Pet Care (GPC) Division of Spectrum Brands in October 2019. He previously was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of GPC since December of 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Pailthorp was the Vice President of Global Marketing for the company’s former Pet, Home & Garden division since May of 2015.

Mr. Pailthorp began his career with Spectrum Brands in 2002 in Brand Management for lawn & garden products in the company’s Home & Garden division and moved on to hold a number of Marketing leadership roles, eventually taking on the role of Division Vice President of Home & Garden Marketing in 2010.

Mr. Pailthorp earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Baltimore and a Master’s degree in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University.