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New Member of the Board of Directors of Arlington Hospitality Inc. |
Randolph, N.J. � April 30, 2003 � As president and c.e.o. of Hospitality
Solutions LLC, one of Steve Belmonte�s goals is to bring to board rooms
the leadership skills developed in his years as president of one of the
world�s largest franchise companies. In that context, he has educated himself�and
the board upon which he currently sits�in the complexities of a new law
that governs the financial activities of public and, to a certain extent,
private companies.
Belmonte was elected to the Arlington Hospitality board last year, along with fellow board member Ken Fell. His experience running for the post, Belmonte says, was both educational and eye-opening for him. �Both Ken and I saw a need to bring to the table some fresh thoughts and ideas on improving the value of our shares for our shareholders,� Belmonte said. �We ran on what you might call a dissident slate, and as it turned out, we won election to the board overwhelmingly.� Belmonte�always one to dive head-first into a project�has become a student of the intricacies of board-room operations. As an example, once he made the decision to run for the Arlington Hospitality Board, he studied and learned everything he could about regulations that govern the financial activities of publicly and privately held companies. Belmonte�s diligence paid off: About the time he was elected to the Arlington Hospitality board, a new law governing boards of directors was about to go into effect. �This new law, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, came on the scene shortly after I was elected to the Board,� said Belmonte, now chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee for Arlington�s board. �I did a lot of research on Sarbanes-Oxley and believe me, this law carries a lot of clout and its complex rules and regulations will be enforced to the fullest.� One worldwide accounting firm refers to Sarbanes-Oxley as �the single
most important piece of legislation affecting corporate governance, financial
disclosure and the practice of public accounting since the U.S. securities
laws of the 1930s.� Like most federal regulations, the Act�s requirements
for corporate governance, financial-statement disclosures, management assessment
of internal controls, and the changed responsibilities of auditors are
voluminous and intricate in detail.
�According to the May/June issue of Corporate Board Member magazine,
only 52 percent of all companies� boards of directors have formed a governance
It�s Belmonte�s goal to bring his brand of knowledge, diligence and experience to the table in other board rooms. �I�ve learned a lot being a member of the Arlington board, and it�s my objective to be of service in a similar way to other boards of directors,� Belmonte said. Hospitality Solutions LLC, based in Randolph, N.J., provides expert witness and arbitration services, litigation support, franchise agreement formulation or termination negotiation assistance, asset management, targeted training programs, special projects and motivational speaker services to service industries. In addition to heading up his new company, Belmonte serves as vice chairman of the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.'s Educational Foundation. For more information, call (973) 598-0839 or e-mail [email protected] |
Steve Belmonte
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