3 Demoulas sisters remove last Artie T. ally from Market Basket board

TEWKSBURY, Mass. — The three sisters of suspended Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas have ousted his last remaining ally from the company’s board of directors as the popular New England grocery chain’s corporate shakeup continues.

Longtime board member Bill Shea shared a statement on Monday announcing that the three Demoulas sisters, Frances Kettenbach, Glorianne Demoulas Farnham, and Caren Demoulas Pasquale, voted on Aug. 7 to remove him from his role within the company after nearly three decades of service.

Shea’s firing comes after the Tewksbury-based grocery chain’s board placed Arthur Demoulas on paid administrative leave on May 28 over allegations that he had been considering leading a work stoppage.

“I think it is clear that the main reason I was removed was that I was exercising my right as a board member to demand information on what the basis of these allegations against Arthur was, particularly about the supposed work stoppage,” Shea said. “That’s not a threat, it’s a duty that I had to get to the bottom of why they had so publicly decapitated this incredibly successful company, removing its management.”

Jay Hachigian, Steven Collins, and Michael Keyes are the only board members remaining, all of whom were appointed by the three Demoulas sisters.

“I have a track record of 26 years of results as an independent director representing the interests of all the shareholders. By every measurement, Market Basket was operating at the top of its game during that time – ranked number two in the country with operating results quarter after quarter that are the envy of the industry," Shea added. “I wouldn’t take a single vote back. The only thing the sisters had to ‘tolerate’ was tremendous performance.”

Longtime executives and “Artie” T. loyalists, Joseph Schmidt and Tom Gordon, were fired by the board in July and later slapped with a restraining order that bans them from setting foot on all Market Basket property.

Schmidt and Gordon called their firings a “pre-planned coup” spearheaded by the Demoulas sisters, who are majority shareholders in Market Basket.

Justine Griffin, a spokesperson for Artie T., said Monday in a statement that the firing of Shea eliminates the one person “who could question” the actions of his sisters.

“Mr. Shea embraced the associates and the culture of Market Basket, recognizing early on that it is the heart of the company and is the secret to our collective success,” Artie T. said in a statement. “His abrupt and inelegant dismissal saddens me.”

Since his firing, Shea says he hasn’t heard from the Demoulas sisters or the other board members.

Artie. T and Shea say the Market Basket board has been out of compliance with the company’s bylaws since January, which call for no fewer than five board members.

The investigation into Demoulas “is nearly complete,” according to an update issued on behalf of the board in late July by law firm Quinn Emanuel, which has been reviewing the allegations of a planned disruption of Market Basket operations.

Harvey Wolkoff, the founding partner of Quinn Emanuel’s Boston office, said the findings of the investigation won’t be made public until the board and Demoulas meet with a neutral mediator to “determine if the long-standing issues between them can be resolved.”

The mediation with Demoulas is scheduled for September 3, according to Wolkoff.

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