ANGLETON, TX – An activist shareholder won two seats on Benchmark Electronics' board of directors as part of a push for changes at the contract electronics manufacturer.

Shareholders voted in favor of Robert K. Gifford and Jeffrey S. McCreary, according to a statement from Engaged Capital. The money management firm owns nearly 5% of Benchmark.

Gifford is former president of supply chain at Ingram Micro and was previously at Ecolab. McCreary is an independent management consultant and former senior vice president overseeing sales and marketing at Texas Instruments.

In a campaign, Engaged critiqued what it said was Benchmark’s ineffective use of working capital and approach to capital allocation, according to published reports.

Engaged reportedly said Benchmark is the only EMS provider that pays its suppliers more quickly than customers pay them. The firm also said Benchmark’s recent $230 million cash acquisition of Secure Technology was a misallocation of capital.

• Prev
• Next