Firstly Petty was a NED - not the companies chartered...

Firstly Petty was a NED - not the companies chartered accountant. Fairly sure he isn't a CPA anymore either after what went down there. Perhaps it was not looking good for his re-appointment.

Secondly Gerondis is a Mgmt appointment, so not a replacement for the NED role.

Lastly its a pretty common internal management role for all large companies. Would certainly help with any future US listing requirements to have a compliance officer on board. I doubt they were able to just hire this guy in the last couple of days as well, probably been looking for this role for several months.