Former boss of Gold Coast dental roll-up Smiles Inclusive Mike Timoney braced for long US stay
Former Smiles CEO Mike Timoney is exploring ‘business opportunities’ in the United States while stranded in the country because he’s unable to get a flight home to the Gold Coast.
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FORMER Smiles chief executive Mike Timoney is exploring business opportunities in the US while he is stranded in the country and unable to get a flight home to the Gold Coast.
Mr Timoney and wife Ildi Redak jetted off earlier this year to accompany his son, who was enrolling at Texas Tech University on an academic and tennis scholarship.
“I thought it was such a big moment in his life that I could drop him off at uni, make sure he’s OK and everything, which is what we did,” Mr Timoney said.
He told the Bulletin he has subsequently become “stuck” in the country. “It’s also impossible to get flights (home),” he said. “You get put on a flight and you get bumped off at the last minute because the airlines say it can only take 28 of you today.
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“So we just thought we would hang out over here where it is not a penitentiary. You can’t leave the country (Australia), you can’t cross the borders, you can’t really do anything.”
Mr Timoney said the trip was both to support his son and explore business opportunities in the US in the dental sector. “I’m working on a few opportunities and keeping out of the headlines and limelight for a while. I had my share of it for a year and a half.”
Mr Timoney was one of the driving forces behind the listing of Smiles Inclusive on the ASX in March 2018.
The idea was a dental roll-up where dentists sold their practices to Smiles and reinvested part of the proceeds into a profit-sharing arrangement with the company.
However, the company has been beset by financial difficulties, boardroom battles and legal disputes.
Mr Timoney stepped down from his role at the helm of the Burleigh-based company in early 2019 following a poor-first half result.
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