Or perhaps I should have said relatively new

I've had it pointed out to me that the new directors are not exactly spring chickens, Richard Hermon-Taylor being 67 and Philip Guthrie 63 (give or take a year for each). Not exactly what one would think of as satisfying the request for board members "significantly below 70 years of age" from that shareholder proxy, although it does knock down that median age a little bit anyway. Still, it kind of blunts the notion that these guys are coming in to shake things up a whole lot.

New blood at last

REFR announced the addition of two new board members last night: M. Philip Guthrie, former CFO at Southwest Airlines and Braniff, and Richard Hermon-Taylor, long-time director at Harley Davidson.

The good news is that, at least ostensibly, these new additions are probably not part of Bob Saxe's immediate circle of friends, and therefore may bring a badly-needed measure of independence to the board. The only obvious downside is, it probably won't be enough: friends of Bob and Joe will still hold control, even if a couple of them (possibly including Bob Saxe himself) retire, an event to which I believe this move is a prelude.

For once, it's a move that I don't immediately see a cynical motivation behind, but rather a response to legitimate shareholder unrest as evidenced by the proxy proposal earlier this year.

Of course, it's not an immediate cure for anything but it will be interesting to watch how our new arrivals react to what they find when they assume their duties in earnest.