Former presidential candidate Seán Gallagher resigned from his role at Nutriband after it decided to replace him as chairman, the company’s chief executive, Gareth Sheridan, has said.
Mr Sheridan, who announced his own bid for the presidency over the weekend, said the company was “surprised” when Mr Gallagher raised the issue of a basketball corporate box in his January 2022 resignation letter.
The 35-year-old pharma businessman from Terenure in Dublin intends to run as an independent candidate, seeking a nomination from local authorities to get on the ballot paper.
Mr Sheridan cofounded US-based Nutriband in 2012, which utilises technology to prevent the abuse of patch medications such as fentanyl.
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Mr Gallagher, another Irish businessman who came second in the presidential race of 2011, became chairman of Nutriband in 2018.
However, according to Mr Sheridan, Mr Gallagher resigned from the role in January 2022 when communications broke down over a change in corporate structure.
A spokesman for Mr Sheridan said Mr Gallagher’s resignation came shortly after the company decided his role should be filled by “someone with US capital markets experience”.
It was decided that Serguei Melnik, a cofounder of Nutriband, would be appointed chairman and that Mr Gallagher would “voluntarily vacate” the role and remain as director on the same remuneration package.
“Communication broke down at this point,” the spokesman said, and Mr Gallagher submitted a resignation in January 2022.
The spokesman said the company was “surprised” when Mr Gallagher referenced a corporate box in his resignation letter.
In 2020 the company paid $180,000 for a corporate box from basketball team Orlando Magic at the Amway Arena Stadium in Florida, for a renewable one-year period.
The company described it as a “good fit” because “it is the NBA’s most prominent team in the fight against the misuse of opioids”.
Nutriband retains this corporate box and has extended its contract, the spokesman said.
Also declared as presidential contenders are former MEP Mairead McGuinness, selected as Fine Gael’s candidate, and Independent TD for Galway West Catherine Connolly, who has support from Oireachtas members. No other parties have announced candidates as yet.
