CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On February 9, 2021, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) (referred to herein as “we,” “us,” and “our”) has increased the size of the Board by one director and elected Mr. Derrick Burks to fill the vacancy created by the increase in the number of directors.
Mr. Burks was a partner at Ernst & Young, LLP, a public accounting firm, from 2002 until his retirement in 2017 and served as the managing partner of the Indianapolis office from 2004 to 2017. Mr. Burks was employed by Arthur Andersen, a public accounting firm, from 1978 to 2002, where he served for three years as the managing partner of the Indianapolis office. Mr. Burks was a director of Vectren Corporation, a publicly traded regional energy company, from 2017 until the time of its sale in 2019 and was a member of its Audit Committee and Finance Committee. He is a former member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Indiana CPA Society and is a former Commissioner of the Indiana State Board of Accountancy. Mr. Burks has been a member of the Indiana University Foundation board of directors since 2019 and a member of the Regenstrief Foundation board of directors since 2020. Mr. Burks’ business experience spans small businesses, large international corporations and public companies. He has extensive merger and acquisition, capital markets, enterprise risk and SEC expertise. Throughout his career he has served companies in various industries, including energy, manufacturing, mass merchandising, and logistics with a focus for more than 25 years in real estate (REITs). He is and has been actively involved in civic and community activities working with various agencies, including Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council.
There are no arrangements or understandings between Mr. Burks and ourselves related to his election as a director of the Board. Mr. Burks will not initially serve on a committee of the Board. In addition, the Board undertook a review of the independence of Mr. Burks and affirmatively determined that Mr. Burks is independent in accordance with the NYSE standards.
We are a fully integrated owner and operator of lifestyle-oriented properties and own or have an interest in 423 quality properties in 33 states and British Columbia consisting of 161,229 sites as of January 25, 2021. We are a self-administered, self-managed, real estate investment trust with headquarters in Chicago.