Biography

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LAVERNE COUNCIL

Ms. Council is the Chief Executive Officer of Emerald One, LLC, a consulting company focused on helping business and technology organizations transform through digital change. She is the former National Managing Principal, Enterprise Technology Strategy & Innovation for Grant Thornton LLP, serving in that role from December 2017 through November 2019. Prior to that, she served as the Assistant Secretary for Information & Technology and Chief Information Officer for the United States Department of Veteran Affairs from 2015 through 2017, leading the largest centralized technology organization in the federal government. Ms. Council was the Chief Executive Officer of Council Advisory Services, LLC from 2012 through 2015 and served as the Corporate Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson from 2006 through 2011. Prior to that, she served in a number of roles of increasing responsibility at DELL, Inc., most recently as the Global Vice President Information Technology, Global Business Solutions and Development Services. She is a recognized global operations and information technology strategist and change agent.

Ms. Council received her Master of Business Administration from Illinois State University and her Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Science from Western Illinois University. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration from Drexel University.

The Board of Directors has determined that Ms. Council is independent within the meaning of the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and under the standards of the NASDAQ Stock Market.