Why now? Because Nalepka quit and the charter says they must have three on the BOD. I love how everyone is trying to sweep that under the carpet. Nobody wants to acknowledge that Nalepka quit.
If Koneru doesn't step up, who is left besides the sisters? I doubt Staelin's son would do it -- he probably has hard feelings for getting fired by Andy.
One fun fact: in March we'll get to see how many shares Koneru owns. Talk is talk, but Koneru's stock ownership is a cold hard fact.
Staelin, the Chairman of this exalted Board, owns zero shares and Whelan, the CEO and board member, holds only 33 million shares. The excuse for this lack of share ownership is that they hold huge piles of convertible debt -- which they can't convert because there aren't anywhere NEAR enough shares on the shelf, but forget those pesky details.
Koneru is a different story. He holds no convertible debt. You say that "Dr. Sree Koneru sees the future." His share ownership will show exactly what he thinks of that future.