Green Dot CEO Expected to Retain His Board Seat

Green Dot's embattled founder and chief executive, Steve Streit, is expected to be re-elected to the board based on preliminary voting results from its annual meeting, the company announced Monday.

Also elected to the 10-member board were two candidates who were recruited by an activist shareholder, George Gresham and Saturnino "Nino" Fanlo, according to the company.

Gresham is a former chief financial officer of NetSpend Holdings, one of Green Dot's top competitors in the prepaid card business. Fanlo is the CFO of Social Finance.

Monday's vote capped a drama-filled, often ugly fight between Green Dot and Harvest Capital Strategies, a hedge fund that owns more than 9% of the company's common stock. Harvest was seeking to unseat Streit from the Green Dot board and ultimately to oust him as the Pasadena, Calif., company's CEO.

Green Dot's board of directors said in a press release Monday: "Over the last several months, we have had the opportunity to meet and speak with many of our stockholders. We thank them for their valuable and constructive input throughout this process. We also look forward to working collaboratively with the new directors to drive long-term shareholder value."

Streit has been serving as both chairman and CEO of Green Dot. But last week the company announced that it now plans to appoint an independent chairman.

Then just hours before Monday's vote, Green Dot announced that two board members who were up for re-election, Timothy Greenleaf and Michael Moritz, resigned their seats. Their eleventh-hour departure turned what had been a six-person race for three board seats into a four-person contest.

"We are exceptionally grateful to Mr. Timothy R. Greenleaf and Mr. Michael J. Moritz for their many years of service," Green Dot's board said in the company's press release.

Harvest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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