Head of Parker Automotive to Step Down Oct. 4 : Management: Michael E. Parker, who is being sued by an S&L; and is under investigation by federal authorities, will be replaced by Timothy L. Strader.
Michael E. Parker, the Newport Beach businessman-philanthropist who is the subject of several lawsuits and government investigations involving a prior business, will step down as president and chief operating officer of Parker Automotive Corp., the company said Monday.
Effective Oct. 4, Orange County developer, banker and business executive Timothy L. Strader will take over daily operations of the fast-growing manufacturer of chemical cleaning products for internal combustion engine fuel systems.
Parker, founder and major shareholder of the 3-year-old company, will remain the chairman and chief executive.
Parker Automotive’s stock, which is thinly traded, rose 14%--or 88 cents a share--to close Monday at $7.125 in over-the-counter trading.
Parker is being sued for alleged fraud by Columbia Savings & Loan and is under investigation by federal authorities for dealings involving bankrupt Parker North American Corp. Several former and current directors of Parker Automotive said Parker proposed months ago that Strader replace him as president, and that the move had nothing to do with Parker’s legal woes.
In an interview Monday, Parker said he began talking to Strader about the president’s job in January. Strader has been a Parker Automotive shareholder and consultant since mid-1988 and was elected to the board of directors in June.
“I am good at building a new company” Parker said, “but I’m the first to admit that I’m not the guy to run the daily operations of a $100-million business--and that’s Parker Automotive’s potential.”
Strader said his election was not part of an effort to strip Parker of some management responsibility. “There was no attempt by the directors to remove Michael,” he said. “I was asked by Michael to come on board to augment the management team.”
Regardless of the timing, Strader’s appointment can only help the company, said former director William L. Notrica, first vice president at the investment firm Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards in Newport Beach.
“I’m certain that moving him (Parker)” out of daily operations “was part of it,” Notrica said. “But Mike has done an excellent job of getting the company where it is, and Strader has an excellent reputation” as a corporate manager.
Strader is president and co-founder of Legacy Cos., an Irvine builder of upscale homes and commercial properties, and is founding chairman of CommerceBank, a 13-year-old Newport Beach business bank with about $230 million in assets. He was a Koll Co. vice president and the development firm’s general counsel in the 1970s and is still a partner in Koll’s huge commercial investment portfolio.
Notrica, who owns nearly 36,000 shares of Parker Automotive and whose firm is one of more than a dozen market makers for the company’s stock, said it is “premature” to judge Parker on the basis of the lawsuits and government investigations of his dealings at Parker North American.
“But these are nervous times,” he added, “especially with the situation in the Middle East.” Anything that can be done to bolster public confidence in the company should be done, he said.
Strader, who will assume his new post when he returns from a European vacation next month, said he doesn’t anticipate any changes in Parker Automotive’s management team or its business plan.
“We will be following Michael’s goals for setting up an international marketing team. I went to Europe with Michael a few weeks ago, and I’m excited by the activity there.”
Parker Automotive is not neglecting the domestic market, however, and has been developing a major U.S. sales program, Strader said.
Parker manufactures a line of products called CarbonClean, used to clean fuel systems. It claims that the products reduce emissions and increase fuel economy in engines of all sizes. The company’s headquarters are in Costa Mesa and its manufacturing facility is in Fountain Valley.
