Ahmed Hussein, a director of Irvine medical software maker Quality Systems Inc., said Tuesday that he is nominating six candidates to the company’s board of directors.
Hussein, an Egyptian businessman, owned about 4.7 million shares, or 17% of Quality, as of June 1.
Hussein’s slate is made up of himself and fellow incumbents Ibrahim Fawzy and Edwin Hoffman and three new nominees. They are Murray Brennan, chairman emeritus of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s surgery department; Thomas DiBenedetto, president of Boston International Group Inc., an investment management firm and Joseph Stilwell, a private investment manager.
In a statement, Hussein said a “more independent” Quality board would enhance investors’ confidence in the stock. He also said he planned to solicit proxies in support of other proposals, including changing the definition of an independent director.
Hussein’s news comes roughly two weeks after Quality Chief Executive Lou Silverman said he was resigning from his post in August.
Over the years, Hussein’s been critical of Quality’s board and management.
Most notably, he sparked a fight in 2005 over corporate governance issues that led to legal action. Quality and Hussein later settled their differences when the company agreed to nominate three people suggested by Hussein at its 2006 and 2007 annual meetings in exchange for his not submitting shareholder proposals or nominees at the meeting and to drop litigation against the company.
Quality makes software that dentists and doctors use to manage their practices.
