Tom Sullivan, the founder of Lumber Liquidators (Toano, Va.), resigned from the company’s board of directors on Dec. 31.
The move followed the company’s decision to eliminate Sullivan’s position as an employee of the company and turn him into a non-employee director on the board.
The company said in a statement filed with the SEC that the shift from employee to non-employee board member was made to align Sullivan more closely to the responsibilities he would be performing in the future. The company did not elaborate on what his future role would have entailed.
Sullivan founded Lumber Liquidators in 1994. He was board chairman from 1994–2015 and served as president and CEO from 1994–2006. Sullivan briefly returned to his role as interim CEO in 2015 when CEO Robert Lynch resigned unexpectedly in May, three months after “60 Minutes” aired an investigation into the formaldehyde content of the company’s Chinese-made laminate products.
