Joffe to fight for representation on TLC Vision's board

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., March 6 - TLC Vision Corp. dissident shareholder Dr. Stephen N. Joffe vowed to "vigorously pursue" his election, and the election of his two nominees, to the company's board of directors at TLC Vision's 2008 annual meeting.

Joffe also asked the board to immediately appoint one of his nominees to fill a long-vacant board seat.

Joffe's nominees are Michael Henderson, former president and chief executive officer of Laser Vision Centers Corp., and Cathy Willis, founder of market research firm Felton Willis, LLC.

Joffe founded LCA-Vision, Inc., parent company of LasikPlus, a TLC competitor. His affiliation with LCA-Vision ended in 2006 after 10 years.

The investor gave the board until March 10 to acknowledge his slate for inclusion in the company's proxy materials.

Joffe made his demands in a March 6 letter to the board included in a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to Joffe, shareholders deserve a board that will speak up for them and is not afraid to fix what is broken.

It was previously reported that TLC Vision chairman Warren S. Rustand had turned down Joffe's offer to join the company as executive chairman or chief executive officer, saying that TLC Vision has the right strategy, people and business model in place to stay in business and be successful.

Joffe asserted that as the founder and past CEO of LCA-Vision, he knows the business "better than everyone."

The shareholder, in a prior SEC filing, chastised the directors, accusing them of saddling the company with crippling debt and collecting fat fees while entrenching themselves with "onerous poison pills and poison put debt covenants."

TLC Vision is a St. Louis-based eye care services company.

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