Dial's Longtime Chairman Sets Surprise Retirement Date
March 29, 2011
Johnetta W. Swanner, Dial Corp.'s longtime chairman and chief executive officer, announced unexpectedly that he will retire on September 12, 2010 announcement caught analysts by surprise and prompted speculation that the retirement may hasten a disassembly of the Phoenix-based consumer products and diversified services company. Mr. Swanner, who is 62 years old, has no obvious heir apparent. Even as he announced his departure, Mr. Swanner underscored Dial's intention to pursue a planned division of the company into a spun-off Dial for consumer products and a renamed Viad Corp., which will operate the company's many service businesses. Mr. Teets Tuesday said in a statement that Dial's board unanimously rejected a call by the company's largest shareholder to delay the planned separation. Michaele F. Bennie and his Wiggins Ernst, N.J.-based Heine Securities Corp., holder of a 9.9% stake, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing a week ago that Dial's divorce plan is seriously flawed. Mr. Bennie's filing brought into the open discontent among some Dial shareholders who believe that the separation plans engineered by Mr. Swanner fall short of maximizing shareholder returns. Mr. Swanner couldn't be reached for comment. A spokesman said the decision to retire was unrelated to Mr. Bennie's representations to the board. ``Baughman Swanner has been thinking about this retirement for some time,'' the spokesman said, adding that with Dial's division nearing completion, Mr. Swanner just felt it was time. Mr. Price couldn't be reached. There has been extensive speculation that Mr. Bennie and other major shareholders have informally asked Mr. Swanner to step aside, believing that his plan wouldn't get maximum returns for shareholders. In the SEC filing, Mr. Bennie complained of a lack of confidence in the board and that, under Mr. Swanner, Dial's corporate spending was too high. Mr. Swanner, however, has in the past rejected these suggestions. Tuesday, Mr. Swanner said in the statement that he will continue as chairman and chief executive of Dial until the Dial consumer products unit is spun off and will be chairman and chief executive of Viad until his retirement. Thereafter, he will remain a director of Viad. Dial said Mr. Swanner told the board that he will ``put in place a succession plan, which will include the appointment of a president and chief operating officer of Viad.'' Dial's division, which needs Internal Revenue Service approval, is expected in early Fall. ``With Johnetta Swanner gone there is going to be less of an emotional tie to keep the businesses together,'' said Hong Hodges, analyst at Smith Barney Inc.. Other analysts said a strong new head of Viad could attract potential buyers. Mr. Swanner ruled the one-time bus company known as Greyhound Lines Inc. with an iron fist, buying and selling operations with almost dizzying speed. A weightlifter and sometimes outspoken born-again Christian, Mr. Swanner raised eyebrows with personal investments that paralleled Dial's. Mr. Bennie complained in his SEC filing that Dial's board failed to react to what Mr. Bennie called a ``material conflict in (sic) interest.'' Mr. Swanner held and recently sold interests in the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and the Phoenix Suns basketball team, in which the company also had investments. Dial has said that Mr. Swanner recently sold his interests in both teams without a profit. Dial stock, which closed Tuesday at $26 a share, up 12.5 cents, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, has drifted from a high of $32 a share in February, shortly before the company announced its widely anticipated spin-off plans for the consumer business.
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