US doughnut maker and retailer Krispy Kreme Doughnuts has announced the appointment of two new independent directors to co-chair a special committee to investigate matters related to recent claims against the company.

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The appointment of Michael Sutton and Lizanne Thomas brings Krispy Kreme’s total board membership to eleven and the number of independent directors to nine.


Sutton was chief accountant of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission from 1995 to 1998. Prior to that Sutton was a senior partner of Deloitte & Touche. Thomas is a senior corporate partner in the Atlanta office of Jones Day, a global law firm, where she also serves as firmwide administrative partner.


Sutton and Thomas will serve on Krispy Kreme’s board of directors and co-chair a newly formed special committee. This committee will investigate matters raised by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the informal inquiry previously disclosed by the company, claims asserted in a shareholder derivative action recently filed in United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, issues raised by the company’s auditors, and other matters.

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