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National Amusements, Inc. Elects Five Independent Directors to Viacom BoardNORWOOD, Mass., June 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- National Amusements, Inc. announced today that five members of the Viacom Inc. Board of Directors were removed and five new directors were elected, in accordance with Viacom bylaws. The newly elected directors have deep experience in corporate governance of public companies and will provide valuable expertise to Viacom in the areas of media, entertainment and technology. None of the new directors is affiliated with National Amusements, Viacom or any Redstone family trust. Because of public statements by the existing directors that they would challenge any removals, and to maintain stability until any such challenges are resolved, National Amusements also today filed papers in the Delaware Court of Chancery to affirm the validity and effectiveness of these actions. As is customary in such proceedings, National Amusements also requested that, pending a final ruling, the Court: (1) temporarily maintain the existing Viacom Board in place; and (2) prohibit that Board from taking any action outside of the ordinary course of business. Typically, such cases are given priority by the Delaware courts and resolved far more quickly than other cases. The new Viacom directors are:
The removed Viacom directors are: George S. Abrams, Philippe P. Dauman, Blythe J. McGarvie, Frederic V. Salerno and William Schwartz. The following existing Viacom directors remain in their current positions:
Full Biographies of Elected Board Directors Kenneth Lerer Mr. Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures and the Chairman of Buzzfeed. Previously, he was the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Huffington Post. Currently, Mr. Lerer is Chairman of Betaworks and Dodo.com and serves on the Boards of Business Insider and Thrillist.com. Mr. Lerer is Chairman Emeritus of the Public Theater in New York City and serves on the Boards of the Association to Benefit Children (ABC) and the Bank Street College of Education. Thomas J. May Mr. May is Chairman of Eversource Energy. Before May 2016, Mr. May also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Eversource. Previously, Mr. May held various executive positions, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. May was also the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at NSTAR when the company merged with Northeast Utilities in April 2012. Currently, Mr. May is a director of Bank of America Corporation and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Inc., Chairman of the Stonehill College Board of Trustees, a trustee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Board member of the Kennedy Library Foundation. Judit McHale Ms. McHale serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cane Investments, LLC, which she joined in 2011. From June 2004 to December 2006, Ms. McHale served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Communications, Inc., the parent company of Discovery Channel, and served as its President and Chief Operating Officer from 1995 to 2004. Ms. McHale also served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of State from 2009 to 2011. In 2006, Ms. McHale worked in partnership with the Global Environment Fund, a private equity firm, to launch the GEF/Africa Growth Fund, an investment vehicle intending to focus on supplying expansion capital to small and medium-sized enterprises that provide consumer goods and services in emerging African markets. She currently serves on the Boards of Ralph Lauren, Corp., SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Yellow Pages Group, and previously has served on the Boards of Host Hotel & Resorts, Inc., DigitalGlobe Inc., John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. and Potomac Electric Power Company. Ronald Nelson Mr. Nelson serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Avis Budget Group, Inc. Mr. Nelson served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Of?cer of Avis Budget Group from August 2006 until December 2015 and also held the titles of President and Chief Operating Of?cer from June 2010 until October 2015. Previously, Mr. Nelson held several executive ?nance and operating roles, starting in April 2003, with Cendant Corporation, including as Chief Financial Of?cer and President, and also served on the Board of Cendant Corporation from April 2003 to August 2006. From November 1994 to March 2003, Mr. Nelson served as Co-Chief Operating Of?cer of DreamWorks SKG. Prior thereto, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Of?cer and a director at Paramount Communications, Inc., formerly Gulf + Western Industries, Inc. Mr. Nelson also serves on the Boards of Convergys Corporation and Hanesbrands, Inc. Nicole Seligman Until March 2016, Ms. Seligman served as the President of Sony Entertainment, Inc. (since June 2014) and of Sony Corporation of America (since June 2012). She also served as Senior Legal Counsel of Sony Group from June 2014 until March 2016. Ms. Seligman previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Sony Corporation from June 2005 to June 2014. Ms. Seligman joined Sony in 2001 and additionally served in a variety of other capacities during her tenure at Sony, including as a Corporate Executive Officer at Sony Corporation, as Group Deputy General Counsel of Sony Corporation, as General Counsel at Sony Corporation of America and as an Executive Vice President at Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. Ms. Seligman joined Sony Corporation of America from Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C., where she had been a Partner in its litigation practice working on a broad range of complex civil and criminal matters and counseling a wide range of clients, including President William Jefferson Clinton and Lt. Col. Oliver North. Ms. Seligman joined Williams & Connolly LLP in 1985. Ms. Seligman has been a Non-Executive Director at WPP plc since January 2014 and has served as its Senior Independent Director since April 2016. Ms. Seligman served as law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1984 to 1985 and as law clerk to Judge Harry T. Edwards at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1984. About National Amusements, Inc.: National Amusements, Inc., is a world leader in the motion picture exhibition industry operating more than 950 movie screens in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America. National Amusements delivers a superior entertainment experience in theatres around the world under its Showcase, Cinema de Lux, Multiplex, SuperLux and UCI brands. Based in Norwood, Massachusetts, National Amusements is a closely held company operating under the third generation of leadership by the Redstone family. National Amusements is also an equal partner in the online ticketing service MovieTickets.com and is the parent company of both Viacom and CBS Corporation. National Amusements, directly and through subsidiaries, holds approximately 79.8% of the Class A (voting) common stock of Viacom Inc., constituting 10% of the overall equity of Viacom. National Amusements, directly and through subsidiaries, also holds approximately 79.5% of the Class A (voting) common stock and 2.2% of the Class B (non-voting) common stock of CBS Corporation, constituting 8.6% of the overall equity of CBS Corporation. For more information, please visit www.nationalamusements.com. Media Contacts: Brunswick Group Frequently Asked Questions
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-amusements-inc-elects-five-independent-directors-to-viacom-board-300286088.html SOURCE National Amusements, Inc. 
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