Board of Directors
Dennis F. O'Brien
Dennis F. O'Brien has served as a member of our Board of Directors since April 2006. Since April 2008, Mr. O’Brien has served as a partner with Gryphon Investors, a private equity firm. Since March 2007, Mr. O’Brien has served as Chief Executive Officer, Penta Water Co., a position from which he resigned effective in July 2008. Mr. O’Brien will continue to serve on the Penta Water Co. Board of Directors after July 2008. Mr. O’Brien served as President and Chief Operating Officer of ConAgra Foods Retail Products Company, a retail consumer packaged foods company, from April 2004 to May 2006, where he was responsible for a portfolio of more than forty brands competing in over twenty-five food categories across multiple retailer formats, as well as a 22,500 employee base that included sales, finance, and human resources functional teams. Mr. O’Brien served as President and Chief Operating Officer, from September 2002 to April 2004, and Executive Vice President, from July 2001 to September 2002, of ConAgra Grocery Foods Group in Irvine, California. From May 2000 to July 2001, he served as President of ConAgra Store Brands, a division that ConAgra acquired in connection with its purchase of International Home Foods, a manufacturer, distributor and marketer of food products, in August 2000. From September 1996 to April 2000, Mr. O’Brien was Senior Vice President of Marketing & Product Development at Armstrong World Industries, a durable goods company. Mr. O’Brien was also previously at Campbell Soup Company, where he served as Vice President, Beverages, and Vice President of Marketing, Pepperidge Farm Biscuits, and he also held management positions at Nestlé Foods Company and The Procter & Gamble Company. Mr. O’Brien received his B.S. in Marketing from the University of Connecticut.