The “Committee” of independent directors believes that members of the Company’s Board of Directors must posses certain basic personal and professional qualities in order to properly discharge their fiduciary duties to shareholders, provide effective oversight of the management of the Company and monitor the Company’s adherence to principles of sound corporate governance. It is therefore the policy of the Committee that all persons nominated to serve as a director of the Company should possess the minimum qualifications described in this policy. These are only threshold criteria, however, and the Committee will also consider the contributions that a candidate can be expected to make to the collective functioning of the Board based upon the totality of the candidate’s credentials, experience and expertise, the composition of the board at the time, and other relevant circumstances.