Vic Mahadevan Board’s Director, Violin Memory

Violin Memory, Inc. announced the appointment of Vic Mahadevan to its board of directors, effective immediately.

He has been appointed to the class of directors that will stand for election at the company’s 2015 annual meeting of stockholders. With his appointment, Violin Memory has expanded its board from seven directors to eight, seven of whom are non-management directors.

“We are pleased to welcome Vic to our Board, and we look forward to benefitting from his insights and contributions,” said Kevin DeNuccio, president and CEO. “His significant senior management experience in the industry, specifically in the enterprise storage space as Chief Strategy Officer for NetApp, will be invaluable as we continue to push forward with our strategic initiatives to improve execution, continue to lead the storage market with our technology, and drive sustainable long-term growth.”

“I am honored to join Violin Memory’s board of directors,” said Mahadevan. “Violin is a great company with unmatched enterprise and cloud storage solutions, a rapidly expanding customer base, and significant growth opportunities in the evolving market for enterprise flash solutions. I look forward to working with the board as Violin embarks on its next phase of growth and works to generate value for all Violin Memory stockholders.”

In connection with this announcement, Violin Memory has entered into an agreement with Clinton Group, Inc. Under the agreement, the Clinton Group will, among other things, vote its shares in favor of the election of the company’s slate of directors at the company’s 2014 annual meeting of stockholders. In addition, the Clinton Group has agreed to customary standstill provisions. The agreement will be filed in a form 8-K with the SEC.

“We are supportive of the steps the board of directors and management have taken to reorient the company to an improved strategy for achieving growth and profitability,” said Joseph A. De Perio, senior portfolio manager, Clinton Group. “We appreciate Violin Memory’s willingness to engage constructively with stockholders, and we believe Vic Mahadevan’s significant domain expertise and experience will benefit all of Violin Memory’s stockholders.”

In addition, Violin Memory announced that it is postponing the company’s 2014 annual meeting of stockholders to a date to be later determined by the board. It had previously disclosed on Form 8-K on March 13, 2014, that it established May 23, 2014 as the date for its 2014 annual meeting, the company’s first annual meeting as a public company.

Vivekanand (Vic) Mahadevan
 He has been an independent business consultant since March 2012. Mahadevan was previously the chief strategy officer for NetApp, Inc., a supplier of enterprise storage and data management software and hardware products and services, from November 2010 until February 2012 and prior to that time served as VP marketing for LSI Corporation from January 2009 to September 2010. Prior to LSI Corporation, he was CEO for Deeya Energy, Inc., a company that develops and manufactures stationary electrical energy storage solutions, from December 2007 to July 2008. He has also held senior management positions with storage and systems management companies including BMC Software, Compaq, Ivita, and Maxxan Systems. Mahadevan also currently serves on the board of directors of Overland Storage, Inc. since November 2012.