William Arthur Owens has served as a director on our Board since July 2006. He currently serves as the Chairman of our Board Governance, Nomination and Compensation Committee. He has held a number of senior leadership positions at large multinational corporations. Mr. Owens served as the Chairman of the Board of CenturyLink from July 2009 to May 2017. He is also the Executive Chairman of Red Bison Advisory Group (“RBAG”). RBAG is a company in the natural resources (oil, gas and fertilizer plants) and information and communication technology sectors. Mr. Owens is also the executive chairman of Red Bison Technology group which provides high-speed telecom networks for major office buildings and residential buildings. Mr. Owens previously served as the Chairman and Managing Director of AEA Investors (Asia) from April 2006 to December 2015 and has served as Managing Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AEA Holdings Asia, a New York private equity company. Mr. Owens also served as Vice Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Asia from June 2012 to June 2014, as well as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nortel Networks Corporation, a global supplier of communications equipment from April 2004 to November 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Owens served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Teledesic LLC, a satellite communications company from August 1998 to April 2004. During that same period, Mr. Owens also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Teledesic LLC’s affiliated company, Teledesic Holdings Ltd. Mr. Owens was President, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of Science Applications International Corporation from June 1996 to August 1998. Mr. Owens was a career officer in the U.S. Navy where he served as commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in 1990 and 1991, and as senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney. Mr. Owens’ military career culminated in his position as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff where he had responsibility for the reorganization and restructuring of the armed forces in the post-Cold War era. Mr. Owens is widely recognized for bringing commercial high technology into the U.S. Department of Defense for military applications and as the architect of the Revolution in Military Affairs, an advanced systems technology approach to military operations.
Mr. Owens is also a member of several philanthropic and private company boards. Mr. Owens was a member of the Board of Directors of Daimler Chrysler AG from November 2003 to April 2009, Embarq Corporation from May 2006 to July 2009 and Nortel Networks Corporation from February 2002 to November 2005. Mr. Owens is a director of the following private companies: Knowlabs, Tethr Prism, TruU, Kyrrex, the Compass SPAC, Goldstein Roth and Versium.
Mr. Owens is on the advisory board of the following private companies: Carillon Technologies, Healthmine, Platform Science, Sarcos, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Vodi. Mr. Owens is on the board of trustees at Seattle University, and board member of the Center for State-led National Debt Solutions, which aims to establish a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Mr. Owens holds an M.B.A. (Honors) degree from George Washington University, a B.S. in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy and a B.A. and M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.