Greetings HHSE Friends & Followers - As was so eloquently written by Shakespeare, "Beware the Ides of March." There is change in the air, in our society, in the world's economy... and closer to home, in the Executive Suite at Hannover House, Inc. As Albert Einstein so accurately observed, "The Measure of Intelligence is the Ability to Change."
After months of deliberation, Hannover House, Inc. has accepted the resignation of Officer / Director D. Frederick Shefte as President of the Company, effective Monday, March 15, 2021 (a date to correspond with the Form 8 notification filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission).
Fred Shefte has been a loyal warrior for Hannover House since April of 2007 (14-years ago), but began working with the company as far back as 2003 as the V.P. and Trust Officer for the Bank of Fayetteville - in charge of the collections and disbursement of millions of dollars in Hannover House sales revenues each year. The transition from bank executive to Hannover House President was an easy one for Fred, as his years in business, banking and in legal practices as an attorney had provided a wide breadth of skillsets. Within months, Shefte was handling all managerial aspects for day-to-day operations for Hannover House, at a time when the company's DVD volume at Walmart put the company into the top ten of all pre-recorded video suppliers.
Back in 2007, the "DVD Budget Bin" at Walmart was an ATM for Hannover House, as the Major Studios had not yet accepted that $5 was the right price for their catalog titles... leaving companies like Hannover House with a carte-blanche mechanism for turning secondary movie titles into impulse purchases near the Walmart cash registers. Slowly, over time, the Major Studios began cycling in older hits to the budget bins, like "TOP GUN" and "HOOSIERS" - and by 2010, the Budget Bins were mostly major studio titles.
This was the first of many significant market-paradigm changes to impact Hannover House and the tenure of Fred Shefte as President. The next big market shift was when Blu-Ray releases began to take retail shelf space away - thus forcing companies like Hannover House to implement "limited theatrical releases" in order to be considered for premium DVD placement at major retail accounts. But in time, the mere action of releasing a film to theatres became less relevant to the buyers than whether or not the title generated any significant box office results while in theatrical release. The final two paradigm shifts were the steady transition from consumers away from physical discs in favor of streaming services... and the acceleration of that trend with last year's and the ongoing Covid Pandemic forcing many people to stay at home.
When Shefte started at Hannover House, there were more than forty independent distribution companies operating under a similar DVD-driven business model. Now there are only a handful, and most of these survivors have transitioned into streaming-centric business models. That said, Shefte was a key element in devising and implementing a successful evolution of Hannover House over the years. He was there for the genesis of the "VODWIZ" streaming concept - which grew into the MyFlix multi-studio venture - and which most sage investors now forecast to be the future revenue king for Hannover House.
As was disclosed in this blog back in the late summer of 2018, Shefte became gravely ill and was hospitalized with a poor prognosis for survival. Eighteen weeks later, with the benefit of some aggressive treatments and medication, Shefte was released and given the go-ahead to return to work. At that time (late 2018) Parkinson met with Shefte to discuss WHY he would choose to return to Hannover House when he has been granted a miraculous second-chance at life? Shefte's response was that he believed in Hannover House, in MyFlix and in the company's future... and that he wanted to be a part of this journey for as long as possible.
Recent developments have brought Shefte's journey with Hannover House to an end. While his health status remains stable, his personal situation has declined following both a divorce last year and a bankruptcy filing last month. At this time, Hannover House is a distraction to Shefte... and Shefte is a distraction to Hannover House. While his dedication and commitment to seeing a successful Form 10 Registration and MyFlix launch remains, there are too many other obstacles impacting Shefte's ability to perform his duties as President of the company. Accordingly, Shefte's resignation was accepted today - and will be effective on Monday, March 15 - the proverbial "ides of March" as Shakespeare's soothsayer so predicted.
On an interim basis, C.E.O. Eric Parkinson will assume the corporate duties as President. However, the company is finalizing the deal terms for the recruitment of a highly-skilled executive as President of HHSE, and this is major management hire is expected to be completed in less than thirty days. In the event that the engagement of a new President takes longer than 30-days, HHSE will file an amendment with the Wyoming Secretary of State to list Parkinson as interim President. Otherwise, the updated officer filing with Wyoming will list the newly engaged President.
The HHSE Corporate Records will forever acknowledge the valuable services of Don Frederick Shefte as the company President from April 15, 2007 to March 15, 2021. We wish Fred continued good health and success in his future endeavors. After Monday, Fred's current email ("Fred@HannoverHouse.com") will be rerouted to Parkinson... and he will be using his personal email account: FredShefte1@gmail.com for those of you that want to send him best wishes on his new chapter in life.
Change can be good... and we welcome all of the exciting changes that HHSE / MYFLIX are implementing. Hold tight, the season of change is upon us!
Parkinson and Shefte on the SONY Pictures Studios Lot in Culver City, CA.
Parkinson & Shefte at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (2018)
Formation Announcement of the MYFLIX Multi-Studio Streaming venture.
Session Director Star Noor with Shefte and Parkinson at the recording studio.
