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Dye & Durham Announces Support Agreements with Plantro and EdgePoint, Strengthening Governance with New Appointments

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Dye & Durham has entered into Support Agreements with Plantro and EdgePoint, aligning the Company with two of its largest shareholders, representing approximately 36% of shares outstandingFormer Dye & Durham Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud, Lee Matheson, and Peter Brimm appointed to the Board of Directors

TORONTO, Nov. 5, 2026 /CNW/ — Dye & Durham Limited (the “Company” or “Dye & Durham”) (TSX: DND), a leading provider of cloud-based legal practice management software, today announced it has reached support agreements with two of its largest shareholders, Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro”) and EdgePoint Investment Group (“EdgePoint”). The support agreements mark a decisive step toward providing the Company, its customers, employees, and investors with a clear, stable governance framework through 2027.

In connection with the support agreements, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) will be refreshed with individuals who collectively bring fresh shareholder perspective, relevant skills and experience, and critical institutional knowledge. Matthew Proud, Lee Matheson of EdgePoint and Peter Brimm, a former director of the Company, have been appointed to the Board. The Board also welcomes Patrick Dennis as a Board Observer. Mr. Dennis’s extensive operating and transformation experience in enterprise software will support the Board as it advances the Company’s strategic and financial priorities.

“Today’s agreements are the result of constructive dialogue with our shareholders, and we welcome the new members of the Board,” said Angela Zhang, Chair of the Board, Dye & Durham. “With a reinvigorated and aligned Board, we will continue to progress our search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer while supporting Todd and the management team in executing our strategy and driving sustainable value for all shareholders.”

“We plan to collaborate closely with the Board and management to drive long-term performance at Dye & Durham,” said Matthew Proud, Principal, Plantro. “Plantro believes that a focus on product development and disciplined execution will support Dye & Durham’s path to future value creation. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Company and with EdgePoint, and we look forward to being a supportive and engaged shareholder.”

“We are pleased to have aligned with other major Dye & Durham shareholders, including Plantro, and the Company’s Board,” said Lee Matheson, Partner, EdgePoint. “These agreements provide the stability the Company needs and we believe this sets the stage for the Company to focus fully on operating performance and balance sheet discipline.”

“I am delighted to welcome Matthew, Lee and Peter to the Board, and Patrick as a Board Observer and advisor,” said Todd Schulte, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Dye & Durham. “With our Board and our largest shareholders behind us, our teams can put their full attention where it belongs — on our platform, our products, and the customers who rely on us every day.”

Support Agreements

Under the terms of the support agreements, Plantro and EdgePoint have both entered into customary standstill and voting support agreements with the Company until September 2027. The agreements will be filed on SEDAR+.

EdgePoint receives a nomination right to the Company’s Board during the standstill period and Lee Matheson serves as EdgePoint’s nominee. Plantro continues to hold its existing nomination right with respect to a director; Matthew Proud will serve as Plantro’s nominee. Norman Findlay will continue to serve on the Board until the Company’s next annual meeting of shareholders.

The litigation between Plantro and the Company will be dismissed as part of these agreements.

About Matthew Proud, Lee Matheson, Peter Brimm, and Patrick Dennis

Lee Matheson is a Partner at EdgePoint Investment Group. Previously, he co-founded Broadview Capital Management Inc. and served as portfolio manager of the Broadview Dark Horse LP, a long/short fund focused on Canadian small-cap securities. Mr. Matheson has extensive experience as a public company director having served on ten public company boards. He currently serves as a director of Tucows Inc., where he also chairs the governance committee. He has previously served on the boards of AutoCanada Inc. (2020–2024), Optiva (2020–2025), Echelon Financial Holdings Inc. (2018–2020), exactEarth (2019–2021), RDM Corporation (2011–2017), AlarmForce Industries Inc. (2016–2018), WesternOne Inc. (2016–2018), Medworxx Solutions Inc. (2013–2015), and Strad Inc. (2019–2020). Mr. Matheson is a CFA charter holder, and member of the CFA Institute.

Peter Brimm, who previously served on the Board from November 2023 to December 2024, has been reappointed as a Director. Mr. Brimm has over 20 years of capital allocation, investing, and operating experience across multiple industries as a strategy and operations consultant, C-suite executive, and investor. He was recently President of Envoy Holdings, a single-family office. Previously, Mr. Brimm was Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation for Shiplake Properties, a Toronto-based real estate firm, and before that served as Chief Growth Officer at Leap Tools Inc. He has also held portfolio manager roles at several leading hedge funds in the US and Canada, including Relational Investors and West Face Capital Inc. Mr. Brimm currently serves on the boards of Pitney Bowes Inc. and Medical Facilities Corporation. He holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, with certificates in Global Management and Public Management, and a B.A. cum laude in Business Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. Mr. Brimm is a CFA charter holder, and member of the CFA Institute.

Matthew Proud is a Principal of Plantro and the Chief Executive Officer of MAK Acquisition Corp. Mr. Proud was the Global Chief Executive Officer of Dye & Durham from 2014 to 2024. In 2018, Mr. Proud was recognized as one of CNW Group/The Caldwell Partners International Inc.’s Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Honourees. Mr. Proud holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Buckingham.

Patrick Dennis is a seasoned business executive and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of operational leadership across SaaS, enterprise software, and cybersecurity — and a proven track record as a multi-time, successful public and private company CEO. He currently serves as Executive Chairman at Avaya, having transitioned from the CEO role after leading the company’s transformation and repositioning as an enterprise software provider. As CEO, he focused Avaya’s product and go-to-market strategy on the largest, most complex government and private-sector organizations globally, and led the company’s AI initiatives, embedding AI capabilities across the business. As CEO of Venafi, he drove company-wide strategy with a focus on innovation and growth, leading the company’s successful sale to CyberArk. He has also held multiple senior leadership roles at EMC and Oracle, driving strategic initiatives and operational excellence. In addition to his role at Avaya, Mr. Dennis currently serves as Chairman at Ripcord. He earned a B.S. in Information Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is an active contributor to the Forbes Technology Council.

ABOUT DYE & DURHAM LIMITED

Dye & Durham Limited provides premier practice management solutions empowering legal professionals every day, delivers vital data insights to support critical corporate transactions and enables the essential payments infrastructure trusted by government and financial institutions. The Company has operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa. Additional information can be found at www.dyedurham.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which reflects the Company’s current expectations regarding future events, including statements relating to the composition of the Board, the entry into and terms of the support agreements with Plantro and EdgePoint, the settlement of certain litigation involving the Company, and the Company’s governance framework and priorities moving forward. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “targets”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “an opportunity exists”, “is positioned”, “estimates”, “intends”, “assumes”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate” or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, “will” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. All information that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, nor guarantees or assurances of future performance but instead represent management’s current beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events and performance. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Dye & Durham’s control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that the support agreements with Plantro and EdgePoint, and the changes to the Board resulting from such agreements, do not achieve the expected outcomes and the risk factors discussed in the Company’s most recent annual information form, available under Dye & Durham’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking information is also based on certain assumptions, including that none of the risks identified above materialize; that no significant events occur outside the ordinary course of business; and that all parties to the Plantro and EdgePoint support agreements abide by the terms thereof.

If any of the aforementioned risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates, or assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results or future events may vary materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking information. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this press release represents Dye & Durham’s expectations as of the date specified herein and is subject to change after that date. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, except as required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Dye & Durham Limited

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Ashling’s Morgan Conque Named SMB Leader of the Year Finalist at the 2026 U.S. Forces in Business Awards

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November 6, 2026

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The world’s largest celebration of veteran talent lands in Dallas, Texas, on December 10 to spotlight outstanding former service members driving American business forward.

CHICAGO, Nov. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Morgan Conque, Vice President of Go-to-Market at Ashling, a leading global provider of AI and Automation consulting and development services, has been named a finalist for SMB Leader of the Year at the 2026 U.S. Forces in Business Awards. Now in its ninth year, the program is the world’s largest celebration of military veterans in the civilian workforce, with this year’s shortlist selected from hundreds of nominations.

A U.S. Army officer commissioned through ROTC, Morgan served with NATO forces in Germany, ran personnel operations in South Korea, and advised an Afghan army hospital, where she helped cut the medical evacuation cycle from 17 hours to 3. She concluded her service as the Medical Operations and Logistics Officer for the First Cavalry Division, supporting more than 18,000 soldiers.

Morgan’s military experience translated into business leadership from the start. Following her service, she led branch operations for a large specialty infusion pharmacy team, then moved into intelligent automation and rapidly expanded her scope from bid manager to leading sales platforms, enablement, content, and strategy. Her education supports that trajectory, including a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Seattle University, a Master of Science in Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness from Saint Louis University, and an Executive MBA from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business.

Today, Morgan leads go-to-market strategy at Ashling, aligning sales, marketing, and partnership teams to drive the fast-paced growth and navigate the ever evolving market landscape. “I look back on my transition into AI and automation as serendipitous,” Conque said. “The discipline I built in the Army, leading teams, making decisions with incomplete information, and staying accountable to the mission, carried directly into this field and suited me well. I remain fascinated by the conversations I’m part of and excited about where the industry is headed.”

More than 200,000 service members leave active duty in the United States each year, yet research by ZipRecruiter and the Call of Duty Endowment found that almost one-third of veterans are underemployed, a rate 15.6% higher than among their non-veteran peers. Morgan’s career is a testament to what that talent can achieve. Established in 2018, the Forces in Business Awards celebrate veteran role models like her, reflecting the breadth of industries and professional disciplines where former service members are making their mark.

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Milton “Jamie” Sands III, President and CEO of Special Operations Warrior Foundation, official charity partner of the U.S. Forces in Business Awards, said: “Congratulations to this year’s finalists, whose achievements demonstrate the value military experience brings to business. Service develops leaders who take responsibility, build strong teams, and deliver under pressure. These finalists are putting those qualities to work in new ways, strengthening their organizations and communities while helping others see what is possible after military service.”

Marshall Sied, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Ashling, said: “Morgan’s experience as a military veteran has clearly laid a strong foundation for the evolution of her career.  At Ashling, she balances our fast-paced industry and constantly evolving capabilities with enthusiasm and clarity.  Morgan has the unique ability of being a creative thinker, inspiring team leader, and strong operational executor all at once. We are honored to have Morgan help lead the charge on many of our most mission-critical initiatives. She is a very deserving finalist.”

Winners will be announced on December 10, 2026, at a black-tie gala in the Lincoln Ballroom at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, hosted by longtime CBS News anchor and Gold Star son Doug Dunbar.

About Ashling

Ashling is a global AI and automation consulting and development firm specializing in digital process transformation. They align on what value means for enterprises, design, build and manage solutions that work from pilot to production, and architect an operating model designed for rapid deployment and compounding success.

Ashling’s delivery accelerators get clients to production 5x faster and prove ROI sooner, backed by a delivery team of forward-deployed AI pods and award-winning innovation. Ashling is the firm enterprise clients trust, with over 400 clients across industries, an 86 NPS, and an unwavering commitment to the business outcomes they deliver.

About the Forces in Business Awards

The Forces in Business Awards is the world’s largest business celebration of the military community. Taking place in the United States and United Kingdom, the Awards program is the leading platform for uncovering and showcasing the achievements and talents of veterans, presenting them as visible role models for transitioning service members and recognizing aspirational employers for current and former servicemen and women. The prestigious events promote the value that veterans add to the economy after service.

Media Contact

Madison Ramsay, Senior Marketing Manager, Ashling madison.ramsay@ashlingpartners.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashlings-morgan-conque-named-smb-leader-of-the-year-finalist-at-the-2026-us-forces-in-business-awards-302932150.html

SOURCE Ashling Partners

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Diamond Foundry Announces First-Ever D200mm Single-Crystal Diamond

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November 6, 2026

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Breakthrough culminates 25 years of scientific pursuit and establishes a new scale for single-crystal diamond

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Diamond Foundry Inc. today announced a major milestone in the history of materials technology: the creation of the first-ever D200mm single-crystal diamond, measuring 200 millimeters in diameter.

Diamond Foundry creates the world’s first 200mm single-crystal diamond, bringing diamond to semiconductor wafer scale.

The achievement marks a fundamental step forward in humanity’s ability to manufacture diamond as a technology material at semiconductor-relevant scale.

The announcement accompanies a keynote by Diamond Foundry CEO Martin Roscheisen, delivered by video at CarbonSemi 2026 in Ningbo, China. Watch the keynote: https://youtu.be/ae0XQBDlLMQ.

Diamond has long been recognized as an extraordinary material for technology. It combines the highest thermal conductivity with exceptional mechanical strength, electrical insulation, optical properties, and the potential for extreme electronic performance. Yet its use in advanced technology has been constrained by one basic limitation: size.

Diamond Foundry’s D200mm breakthrough changes that.

Producing single-crystal diamond at D200mm scale required overcoming fundamental challenges in crystal growth, plasma physics, reactor engineering, materials science, process control, and manufacturing. The result is not an assembly of individual diamond pieces and not a polycrystalline diamond wafer. It is a single-crystal diamond at D200mm scale.

“This is one of those milestones that once seemed almost impossible,” said Martin Roscheisen, CEO of Diamond Foundry Inc. “Hundreds of DF engineers, scientists, and technicians contributed to us getting here. It is the accumulated result of countless experiments, failures, inventions, rebuilt machines, and insights over more than a decade.”

Roscheisen particularly recognized Stefan Gsell and Martin Fischer, whose work on scaling single-crystal diamond began 25 years ago.

“Stefan and Martin pursued this goal for 25 years,” Roscheisen said. “There are very few examples in technology of someone sticking to a really hard scientific challenge with that level of perseverance. They kept going when the prevailing view was that single-crystal diamond simply could not be made at this scale. Today, the perseverance shows as the first-ever D200mm single-crystal diamond. And best of all, it makes D300mm predictable as well.”

From Gemstone Dimensions to Semiconductor Dimensions

The semiconductor industry is built around the ability to manufacture extraordinary materials at wafer scale. Silicon’s progression toward larger wafers transformed electronics by allowing increasingly sophisticated devices to be manufactured economically and repeatably.

Diamond has never had an equivalent scaling path.

Natural diamond is constrained by geology. Conventional lab-grown diamond has historically been constrained to relatively small crystal dimensions. Even as the extraordinary properties of diamond became increasingly relevant to high-power electronics, AI computing, optics, quantum systems, and other advanced technologies, crystal size remained a fundamental bottleneck.

The D200mm single-crystal diamond milestone demonstrates a path beyond that limitation.

For Diamond Foundry, the achievement is part of a broader effort to turn single-crystal diamond from a scarce material measured in gemstones into a tech-industrial semiconductor substrate manufactured at scale.

The implications are particularly significant as computing systems encounter increasingly severe thermal constraints. Modern AI processors concentrate enormous amounts of power into microscopic regions of silicon. Diamond’s exceptional thermal conductivity can spread that heat at the material level, creating new possibilities for chip architectures, power densities, reliability, and cooling.

Twenty-Five Years of Perseverance

The D200mm achievement has roots extending well beyond Diamond Foundry itself.

For 25 years, Gsell and Fischer pursued the underlying scientific and engineering challenge of growing high-quality single-crystal diamond of scalable size. Their work ultimately became part of a much larger effort involving hundreds of people across Diamond Foundry.

The milestone reflects advances spanning plasma generation, growth chemistry, reactor architecture, crystal engineering, thermal management, metrology, automation, and manufacturing.

“Technology history is often written around the moment something finally works,” Roscheisen said. “But that moment rests on the people who were willing to spend years — sometimes decades — making it work. This diamond exists because hundreds of people contributed, and because a few people refused to give up on the idea for 25 years.”

A New Scale for Diamond

Diamond Foundry views D200mm not as an endpoint, but as the beginning of a new manufacturing era for diamond.

The company is developing single-crystal diamond for semiconductor and advanced-technology applications where diamond’s combination of thermal, mechanical, electrical, and optical properties can enable performance beyond the limits of conventional materials.

The first D200mm crystal is shown as grown and unpolished — directly from the growth process.

For a material that nature forms only under extraordinary conditions deep inside the Earth, the significance is simple:

Single-crystal diamond has entered the wafer-scale era.

About Diamond Foundry Inc.

Diamond Foundry is the #1 producer of single-crystal diamond in the world. Founded in San Francisco, the company created the world’s first diamond wafer and is scaling volume production of chip substrates with a $2.77B EU Chips Act project in Spain.

Media contact: Jeff Yurek, j@df.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/diamond-foundry-announces-first-ever-d200mm-single-crystal-diamond-302931849.html

SOURCE Diamond Foundry

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Qued Ranks No. 5 on FreightWaves’ 2027 FreightTech 25, Its Third Straight Year on the List

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November 6, 2026

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An independent panel ranked the AI appointment scheduling platform No. 5 of 25 companies selected from the 2027 FreightTech 100. FreightWaves announced the rankings Oct. 26 at the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner in Chattanooga.

BROADLANDS, Va., Nov. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Qued, a leader in developing sophisticated, automated appointment scheduling solutions for supply chain and logistics companies, today announced that it ranked No. 5 on the 2027 FreightTech 25, the FreightWaves list of 25 companies recognized for innovation across freight technology and transportation. FreightWaves revealed the list on Oct. 26 at the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Our customers earned this ranking. They book their appointments through Qued from inside the systems they already run, and we will keep building for the people who move freight every day.

This is the third year in a row Qued has made the FreightTech 25. Qued debuted at No. 6 in 2025 and ranked No. 3 in 2026.

The FreightTech 25 is selected from the FreightTech 100, a broader list of 100 companies FreightWaves recognizes for innovation in freight and supply chain technology. An independent panel ranks those 100 companies to set the top 25, and the accounting firm Henderson, Hutcherson & McCullough oversees the voting. FreightWaves recognized all 100 companies at the F3 Awards Dinner, where Sope Creek presented the 2027 FreightTech Awards.

“Appointment scheduling rarely makes headlines, so a third straight year on the FreightTech 25 means a lot to our team,” said Prasad Gollapalli, CEO and founder of Qued. “Our customers earned this ranking. They book their appointments through Qued from inside the systems they already run, and we will keep building for the people who move freight every day.”

Qued’s platform uses machine learning to find the best appointment slots in real time, weighing ETAs, facility capacity, historical performance, and the specific requirements of each location. Qued connects directly to the transportation management system a broker, 3PL, or carrier already runs, and it books through facility portals, email, and AI voice calls to facilities that only book by phone.

The full 2027 FreightTech 25 is published on FreightWaves.com.

About Qued

Qued is a cloud-based, AI-powered smart workflow automation platform transforming load appointment scheduling for brokers, 3PLs, and carriers. By automating the scheduling process, Qued eliminates manual work, simplifies multi-stop load appointments, and ensures seamless coordination across the supply chain, improving both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.qued.com or contact us at contact.us@qued.com.

Media Contact

Adam Robinson, Qued, 1 2148720780, adam@the-robinson-agency.com, https://www.qued.com/

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/qued-ranks-no-5-on-freightwaves-2027-freighttech-25-its-third-straight-year-on-the-list-302931740.html

SOURCE Qued

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