Ex-HTA chief
resurfaces as
dental firm CEO

The Pennsylvania job comes
a week after he abruptly quit
his Hawaii tourism post

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

Former Hawaii Tourism Authority chairman John Reed has been named chief executive officer and a director of BriteSmile, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based dental-hygiene company.

The appointment was announced by the company today.

Reed, 58, surprised colleagues last week, when he resigned as chairman of the new tourism authority. He cited personal and minor medical reasons.

Reed also resigned as chairman of the Pacific Retailing Division of Duty Free Shoppers Group Ltd., where he had been a senior executive for the past 21 years.

BriteSmile, with 12 employees, is a small but growing company with BriteSmile Teeth-Whitening Centers that opened this year in Beverly Hills, Pasadena and Walnut Creek, Calif. The company also has Associated Centers in dentist offices in Denver; Louisville, Ky.; San Francisco; Houston; and Toronto.

BriteSmile International recently announced a joint venture with Tokyo-based Mejiro Precision Inc. to introduce the company's BriteSmile 2000 Teeth Whitening System to dentists in Japan. Mejiro, which will own one-third of BriteSmile Japan, develops, makes and distributes optical instruments.

Reed could not be reached for comment this morning.

BriteSmile's stock, traded on the American Stock Exchange, was as low as 87 cents in July but rose to a 52-week high of $16.44 on May 13, according to Bloomberg News. Today, it closed at $11.06, down 56 cents from yesterday.

BriteSmile, which changed its name from Ion Laser Technology Inc. in August, reported a net loss of $11.7 million, or $1.13 per share, for the fiscal year ended March 31. That was larger than the $9.1 million, or $1.62 per share, net loss in the previous fiscal year. The losses were attributed to discontinuing previous lines of business and costs of developing the whitening device and gel.

Before joining DFS Group, Reed was vice president of merchandising at both Federated Department Stores and John Wanamaker. He began his career in 1963 at May Co.

Reed last week said he was leaving more than a dozen boards of directors.

Anthony Pilaro, BriteSmile chairman, said Reed will bring valuable experience to the growing company.