Board of Directors

Frank D. Heuszel, 65, has served as a Director of the Company since August 2020. From August 2020 to August 2023, Mr. Heuszel served as President of the Company. Since April 2023, Mr. Heuszel has also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Since April 11, 2019, Mr. Heuszel has served as the Chief Executive Officer of DSS since April 11, 2019, DSS’s Interim Chief Financial Officer from April 2019 to October 2020, and a director of DSS since July 30, 2018. Mr. Heuszel has extensive experience in a wide array of strategic, business, turnaround, and regulatory matters across several industries as a result of his executive management, educational, and operational experience. Prior to joining DSS, Mr. Heuszel had a very successful career in commercial banking. For over 35 years, Mr. Heuszel served in many senior executive roles with major US and international banking organizations. As a banker Mr. Heuszel has served as General Counsel, Director of Special Assets, Credit Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Auditor. Mr. Heuszel also operated a successful law practice focused on the litigation, corporate restructures, and merger and acquisitions, and collections. In addition to being an attorney and executive manager, Mr. Heuszel is also a Certified Public Accountant (retired), and a Certified Internal Auditor. Mr. Heuszel holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. degree from The South Texas College of Law, Houston.

Dr. Elise Brownell, 70, has served as a director of the Company since January 2021. Dr. Brownell has more than 20 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical project management experience with a proven track record of advancing programs through clinical development. She serves as a Life Sciences entrepreneurial advisor for ASTIA, the nation’s premier entrepreneurial organization focused on women-led businesses. Dr. Brownell is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Contract Pharma Magazine, and previous Chair of the Leaders Network program of Women in Consulting. She is the co-founder of ZephyrBiotech, LLC, a project management firm dedicated to advancing therapeutic candidates through development to key inflection points for clients. Earlier, Dr. Brownell was a founding member, head of project management and senior director of Aerovance, Inc., a venture-backed biotechnology company spun out from Bayer Healthcare, where she created and managed effective team processes to bring product candidates into full scale clinical Phase 1 and 2 developments. Prior to Aerovance, Dr. Brownell acted as head of project management for Bayer’s Biotechnology Unit, where she integrated project strategies to meet therapeutic and market needs. Other roles included building and negotiating partnerships with third parties to support development programs, leading research teams through early bench-to-clinic development phases, as well as entrepreneurial investment experience with Angel’s Forum. Dr. Brownell received her M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from Yale University and her B.S. degree in biology from Allegheny College.

Melissa Sims, 54, has served as a director of the Company since May 2023. Ms. Sims is an Illinois licensed attorney having practiced law since 1995. Following graduation from Northern Illinois University College of Law, Ms. Sims started the general practice of law representing clients in banking, health care, real estate, criminal, dissolution, municipal and probate matters in state and appellate courts. In 2006, she represented the Village of DePue, Illinois regarding legacy pollution from a Superfund site and set national precedent before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In 2021, the United States Supreme Court cited the Village of DePue v. ExxonMobil as precedent in the Atlantic Richfield v. Christian case.

Starting in August of 2017, Ms. Sims has been employed with the international law firm, Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillps Grossman, PLLC and recently represented clients in the National Opioid multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio. She also represents municipalities across the country in tort actions in state, federal and appellate courts.

Ms. Sims brings to the Board her decades of plaintiff litigation with offer keen insight into potential matters which may be of importance on behalf of the Company. The Board believes that her legal background, knowledge expertise, and litigation experience will add great value to the board slate.

David Keene, 66, is an executive level banker with 44 years of commercial banking experience with progressive responsibilities in all facets of credit risk management in both community and regional bank environments. Currently, Mr. Keene acts as chief credit officer of Unity National Bank; a position he has held since September 2022. As chief credit officer, he oversees loan policy, collections, loan operations, credit administration, and all credit underwriting and analysis, problem loan workouts. From May 2018 to September 2022, Mr. Keene was a senior credit risk officer at Community Bank of Texas in Houston, Texas. In this position, he was, among other tasks, responsible for the support of the credit underwriting of high-net-worth individuals, partnerships, and companies. Mr. Keene received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in 1979. The Board believes that his background, knowledge expertise, and experience will add great value to the board slate.

Christian Zimmerman, 45, is currently the executive vice president—chief financial officer of Keystone Bank, SSB. Mr. Zimmerman has held this position since April 2019. In this position, Mr. Zimmerman, among other tasks, reviews and prepares monthly, quarterly and year-end financial reports. From December 2015 to April 2019, Mr. Zimmerman was the executive vice president – controller of Community Bank of Texas, N.A. where he was involved in, among other responsibilities, regulatory reporting for the bank and its holding company, and preparing financial reports. Mr. Zimmerman worked on the holding company’s initial public offering with a focus on the financial statements and analysis. Mr. Zimmerman is a certified public accountant and received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Master’s degree in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. The Board believes that Mr. Zimmerman’s experience with initial public offerings, financial reporting and regulatory reporting will add great value to the board slate.

Castel Hibbert, 64, has been involved in corporate banking for 39 years and has held various management, underwriting and line responsibilities. Since August 2011, Mr. Hibbert has been an executive vice president and managing director at Veritex Community Bank. He currently works with upper middle market companies whose annual revenues range from $75 million to $800 million. Mr. Hibbert received a Bachelor of Science degree in employee relations from Michigan State University in 1981 and a Master in Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983.

Jason Grady, 50, has served as a Director of the Company since June 6, 2024. Mr. Grady has served as the Chief Operating Officer of DSS, Inc. since 2019, and concurrently holds the position of President at Premier Packaging Corporation since 2018, a DSS subsidiary specializing in comprehensive consumer packaging solutions. Mr. Grady is also President and COO of DSS Wealth Management since 2022, a mutual fund, RIA, and fixed income broker dealer, and President and COO of BioLife Science, Inc. since 2021, a health and wellness research and discovery company. Mr. Grady holds numerous board positions across various companies within the DSS ecosystem and beyond. With a distinguished career spanning over 25 years, Mr. Grady is recognized for his adeptness in fostering business expansion and executive leadership, particularly in driving organic growth within multi-divisional companies. Before joining DSS, Mr. Grady held pivotal leadership roles at Berlin Packaging, Inc. from 2009 to 2010 and Parlec, Inc. from 2004 to 2009, where he spearheaded strategic initiatives in business development, sales, and marketing. In addition to his significant contributions to the packaging sector, Mr. Grady possesses deep experience in pharmaceutical, biomedical, and nutraceutical industries, having served in roles such as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Business Development. Mr. Grady is an alumnus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, holding a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Design with a concentration in human biology. His academic foundation, coupled with his extensive professional journey, underscores his multifaceted prowess in navigating complex business landscapes and driving sustained organizational success.