Former CEO of MiMedx Parker H. “Pete” Petit, a frequent donor to Georgia State, has resigned amid an ongoing investigation into the company’s financial dealings.
Petit attended Georgia State in 1973 and earned his MBA in finance at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. “If I had not been able to go to Georgia State at night, I probably would have had a business failure somewhere early on,” he said in 2010. Petit is the chair of the Steering Committee for Georgia State’s Burning Bright giving campaign.
Petit had previously donated $10 million to the Georgia State athletic program which led to his name being chosen for the new football field in 2017.
His other donations to the university include $5 million to create the Parker H. Petit Science center and $1.5 million to create the Football Practice Complex.
MiMedx is being investigated by multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Food and Drug Administration.
The company had already been embroiled in the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Michael Senken and Controller/Treasurer John Cranston following a company announcement stating that they would restate more than five years of potentially skewed corporate earnings.
“Rogue” employees are said to have caused the company to face scrutiny and potential charges following bribery of Department of Veterans Affairs officials. MiMedx allegedly gave gifts to the officials in order to have their product stocked at VA hospitals.
Short stock trader Marc Cohodes operates a website called PetiteParkertheBarker.com that is critical of Petit’s actions. Cohodes predicted in June that Petit would resign and that MiMedx would be bankrupt by Labor Day.
Daniel Varitek contributed to this story.
Isn’t it embarrassing that the stadium is named after him? Reminds me of Enron – Enron Field. So embarrassing!
Thank goodness he has resigned.