Photon Control Announces Appointments to its Board of Directors and Management Team and Cancellation of Requisitioned Shareholder Meeting

BURNABY, BC, March 31, 2017 /CNW/ - Photon Control Inc. ("Photon Control" or the "Company") (TSX-V: PHO), a leading developer of optical measurement technologies primarily used in the semiconductor equipment industry; announced today, that it has made the following appointments to its Board of Directors and Management Team:

• Chuck Cargile, Director
• Scott Edmonds, President and CEO, and Director
• Paul Hellebrekers, Chief Operating Officer
• Yuri Sikorski, VP Solutions Engineering

"Adding Chuck to our Board enhances not just our industry, business operations and governance strength, but Chuck also brings a depth of knowledge and long term strategic view of the photonics industry to our cohort," said Photon Control's Chair Neil McDonnell.

"Photon Control has a growing and profitable business in the semiconductor industry and an array of exciting new market opportunities available to it. We identified Scott Edmonds as a proven CEO and business manager, who with the addition of Paul Hellebrekers and Yuri Sikorski two long time industry veterans, will continue this growth and lead the Company forward," continued McDonnell, "Scott, Paul and Yuri join our proven and talented staff who continually deliver high quality and innovative products to our customers. Our customer centric focus will be further enhanced as we finalize our settlement agreement with Photon Control R&D ("R&D") and integrate their staff into our operations over the next few weeks."

Photon Control also announces that it has been informed by the shareholders who requisitioned and called a General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for May 3, 2017 (as announced in their press release dated March 27, 2017) that such General Meeting has been cancelled and will not be held. A date for the Company's Annual General Meeting and record date for notice of and voting at such meeting will be announced by Photon Control in due course.

"Photon Control is a great company with an exceptional team of people and industry leading customers. The Company has many opportunities to profitably grow in its existing market and in adjacent industries. I look forward to working with Paul and Yuri along with the Photon Control and R&D teams to achieve these goals." said Scott Edmonds.

Biographies follow:

Chuck Cargile, Board Director
Mr. Charles (Chuck) F. Cargile, is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Sunworks (NASDAQ: SUNW). Mr. Cargile previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Newport Corp. from October 2000 until July 2016 and served as its Treasurer since April 2013 until April 2016. In April 2016 Newport was acquired by MKS Instruments for approximately $1 billion. Mr. Cargile has 25 years of public company experience. He has an extensive background in financial and strategic planning, public company mergers and acquisitions (M&A), operations, information technology and capital structure management. Prior to Newport, he worked at York, International in several officer positions, including Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development. Mr. Cargile has also worked for Flowserve Corporation, most recently as Principal Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller. He has an extensive background in strategy development, capital structures, international operations, investor relations and internal controls. In addition to his role at Sunworks, Mr. Cargile is the Lead Independent Director of Netlist Inc. and is a Director of Reed's, Inc. Chuck has a Professional Director Certification from the American College of Corporate Directors, holds a BSc in Accounting from Oklahoma State University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Marshall School Of Business at the University of Southern California.

Scott Edmonds, President and CEO, Board Director
Mr. Edmonds' 30-year career has been a unique blnd of operational, strategic and financial leadership roles in both large and small companies in Canada, Europe and Asia. Most recently Mr. Edmonds led the turnaround of Webtech Wireless into a supplier of software as a service solutions to fleet managers across North America. For his efforts, in 2014 he was recognized as a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award (Pacific Region) in the B2B (business-to-business) category. Prior to Webtech Wireless, Mr. Edmonds served as CFO with two Vancouver area software companies after spending 10 years with The Walt Disney Company in France, Indonesia and Singapore. Scott has been involved in a number of acquisitions, mergers and divestitures and all types of fundraising from early-stage VC funding in the low millions to syndicating more than $100 million in bank debt. Mr. Edmonds, a qualified CA, also holds an ICD.d designation and, has also served on a variety of public and private company boards of directors over the past ten years.  Mr. Edmonds has a degree in finance from Bishop's University and has completed the Executive Development Program at The Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

Paul Hellebrekers, Chief Operating Officer
Paul Hellebrekers has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor and capital equipment design industry leading hardware and software development for complex electro-optics systems, including optical photolithography, nano-imprint, laser direct write and electron beam systems. Mr. Hellebrekers most recently served as Senior Vice President of Product Engineering and Operations at Canon Nanotechnologies, Inc. (formerly known as Molecular Imprints, Inc.). Mr. Hellebrekers has also served in Vice President of Engineering roles at KLA-Tencor, ETEC, Ultratech and GCA. He has directed multiple programs and technologies including optical imaging systems: steppers and DUV, laser direct imaging and electron beam inspection systems. Mr. Hellebrekers has managed many products through their entire life cycle, delivering tools to specification and regulatory requirements. Mr. Hellebrekers holds BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and MSME degree from Boston University and an Executive MBA from Stanford.

Dr. Yuri Sikorski Vice President Solutions Engineering
Dr. Sikorski, a semiconductor equipment industry insider, brings an extensive background in optical measurement and control technologies, engineering, technology leadership, as well as academic research in photonics for semiconductor, medical, and industrial applications. Dr. Sikorski was previously the Senior Director of Engineering at MKS Instruments (formerly Newport Corporation). Prior to MKS Instruments, he led the Optical Engineering R&D team at Beckman Coulter focusing on medical applications of photonics. Prior to Beckman Coulter, Dr. Sikorski was a tenured Associate Professor of Applied Physics and Photonics at Kettering University, and a recipient of multiple Outstanding Research awards. He is recognized for his more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and presentations in the field of photonics. His research was funded by Missile Defense Agency (MDA), National Institute of Standards and Technology, General Dynamics, McLarren Research Institute, METSS Corporation, and the U.S. Army.

About Photon Control Inc.

Photon Control Inc. designs, manufactures and distributes a wide range of optical sensors & instruments to measure temperature, pressure, position, and flow. These products are used by original equipment manufacturers (OEM) as well as end-users in the Semiconductor, Oil and Gas, Power, Life Science, and Manufacturing industries. Photon Control's products provide high accuracy and reliability in extreme conditions and are supported by a team of experts that offer onsite installation, training, and support. Photon Control Inc. also provides engineering services for customized optical measurement systems. Headquartered in an ISO 9001:2008 manufacturing facility in Burnaby, BC, Photon Control Inc. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, trading under the symbol ''PHO". For additional information about the company, please visit www.photon-control.com/investorrelations.html.  

Forward-Looking Statements 
This News Release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements concern the business and anticipated financial performance of the Company and include, without limitation, statements with respect to the  settlement agreement with R&D, the Company's objectives, goals, liquidity, sources of capital, expectations of sales and continued development of technologies and products.

These forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions, including, without limitation, the Company's ability to successfully transition management and board transitions; the Company's ability to successfully complete new purchase orders along the timelines expected; continued and future demand for the Company's products; continued sales to the Company's major customers; the continued financial health of the semiconductor industry; and the Company's ability to continue and further enhance revenue diversification and open new market opportunities.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, uncertainties in the availability and cost of financing for the Company to enable the Company to achieve its goals; uncertainties relating to the market for the Company's products and maintaining a stable level of orders; fluctuations in revenue as a result of volatility in the markets and product mix; risks relating to the Company's present reliance on four major customers for the majority of its sales; risks relating to the Company's reliance on the financial health of the semiconductor industry; risks relating to the development of competing technologies and the possibility of increased competition; the effect of slow growth in the United States, the Company's principal market, as well as in Canada and other economies generally and other economic trends and conditions in the markets that the Company and its customers serve; risks associated with technical difficulties or delays in product introductions, improvements, implementation; uncertainties in product pricing or other initiatives of the Company and its competitors; uncertainties in factors that may result in a reduction in capital expenditures and/or delayed buying decisions affecting demand for the Company's products; risks relating to currency fluctuations, particularly between the Canadian and United States dollars; and risks in pursuing additional development projects to support existing customers or pursue other business opportunities.

The foregoing assumptions, risks and uncertainties are not exhaustive of the items that may affect our forward-looking statements. Should underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect or one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. For the reasons set forth above, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included herein if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.                                           

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Photon Control Inc.

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