Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that it has appointed J. Michael McGuire, CPA, as a new member of its board of directors. The appointment brings the total number of board members to seven. Mr. McGuire will serve on the Board’s Nominating Committee and as chair of the Company’s new IT Governance Committee.Jerry Neal, Co-Chairman of the board at Akoustis, commented, “Mike is an incredibly accomplished business executive and respected corporate leader who brings a wealth of experience to Akoustis. His tremendous insight, experience and stature will be a great asset to both our Board and management team.” Mr. McGuire, age 61, served as CEO at Grant Thornton, LLP (“GT”) from 2014 to 2019, where during that tenure, the firm posted record revenue and earnings. He is credited with transforming the structure of the company focusing on talent, technology, infrastructure, and growth. Prior to becoming CEO, McGuire served on the firm’s senior leadership team as national managing partner of operations and previously was managing partner of the firm’s Carolinas practice. He joined Grant Thornton in 2002 after a 20-year career at Arthur Andersen. He has significant experience in capital markets transactions ranging from venture capital to IPOs and has advised numerous companies on M&A strategies, due diligence and deal structure. He has served on more than 35 community boards during his career. Mr. McGuire received a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, Accounting and Management Information Systems, from Bowling Green University in 1982.Mr. McGuire commented, “Having followed Akoustis since its inception in 2014, I have been impressed with both the growth of the Company and the strategic decisions made by its board and management. Akoustis has a compelling opportunity to be a meaningful player in the fast-growing high-band BAW RF filter market. I am excited to join the board and look forward to working with Jerry Neal, Jeff Shealy and the entire Akoustis board and management team in creating and driving shareholder value.”Jeff Shealy, CEO and founder of Akoustis, stated, “I am thrilled to have Mike join our board as his business savvy as well as his relationships in the business community make him a valuable board member and advocate for Akoustis. He brings a wealth of knowledge in board governance matters including Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC reporting and will be instrumental in advising Akoustis as it seeks to transition to high-volume manufacturing driving revenue growth over the next several years.”Akoustis’ high frequency, high performance XBAW process and filters are experiencing growing interest as the Company plans to enter production in multiple markets in calendar 2020, including 5G network infrastructure, high-band WiFi and the phased-array radar applications.Akoustis has added 14 filters to its product catalog including a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters – targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth. Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility – tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers – for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.Forward-Looking StatementsThis document includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” “potential,” “continue” and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing; the development of our XBAWTM technology and products presently under development and the anticipated timing of such development; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell products based on our technologies; the ability to achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner and the size and growth of the potential markets for any products so qualified; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; our ability to achieve design wins from current and future customers; our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development and qualification of our products and the technologies underlying them; our ability to service our outstanding indebtedness; and the effects of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster, including the Covid-19 pandemic. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.AttachmentJ. Michael McGuireContact: COMPANY:
Tom Sepenzis
Akoustis Technologies
VP of Corporate Development & IR
(980) 689-4961
tsepenzis@akoustis.com The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
(858) 794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com
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