AeroVironment,
Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) today announced the appointment of Senior Vice
President Wahid Nawabi as the company’s chief operating officer,
effective immediately. Nawabi served as general manager of the company’s
Efficient Energy Systems (EES) business segment since 2011 and also led
the company’s integrated engineering and operations functional
organizations for the past year. Nawabi will continue to report to the
company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Tim Conver. The general
managers of the company’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and EES
business segments now report to Nawabi.
Additionally, Senior Vice President Roy Minson has transitioned from
general manager of the company’s UAS segment to lead the company’s
strategic entry into the emerging commercial UAS market, continuing to
report to Conver. Kirk Flittie, previously vice president and business
area leader for large UAS, has assumed the role of general manager for
UAS.
Kenneth Karklin, previously director of quality systems, manufacturing
engineering and services, has assumed the role of general manager for
the EES business segment.
“We continue to cultivate exciting growth opportunities in our core UAS
and EES segments as well as new market opportunities for large UAS and
commercial UAS and are making the right changes to drive operational
excellence and long-term growth as we begin our fiscal year 2016,” said
Conver. “Wahid Nawabi as chief operating officer provides more capacity
and focus on business planning and operations and is a natural extension
of his expanded role over the past year. Roy Minson leading our
commercial UAS strategy commits greater focus on a large and complex
emerging market opportunity where we have a leadership position and are
well positioned to deliver compelling value to large industries.”
“Appointing Kirk Flittie and Ken Karklin to the general manager roles
puts in place proven leaders to guide our business segments and
demonstrates the quality and depth of our leadership bench,” Conver
added.
About Wahid Nawabi, Roy Minson, Kirk Flittie and Ken Karklin
Wahid Nawabi joined AeroVironment in 2011 as senior vice president and
general manager of the EES business segment. Nawabi joined AeroVironment
after a 20-year career as an executive with advanced technology
companies in industries spanning clean technology, industrial/electrical
equipment manufacturing, telecom, and energy. During his 16 years at
American Power Conversion (APC), the company's revenue increased from
$50 million to more than $2.4 billion and it became the world leader in
power protection. Nawabi started and led the Enterprise/Data Center
business at APC, growing revenue to $600 million between 2000 and 2008.
Nawabi also led C&D Technologies' Americas business.
Roy Minson joined AeroVironment as vice president of business
development and deputy general manager of UAS in April 2010. In May
2012, Minson became AeroVironment's senior vice president and general
manager, UAS. Prior to joining AeroVironment, Minson served as vice
president and operations manager for a research and development business
within the Tactical Systems and Solutions division of SAIC, where he was
responsible for transitioning products and solutions. Earlier, as a
senior executive at Boeing, he led various business segments supporting
DoD, DARPA, and various government agencies, and was a key contributor
to the development and capture of several large programs, including
Joint Tactical Radio Systems, Future Combat Systems, Combat Survival
Evader Locater, and classified programs.
Kirk Flittie served in various UAS leadership positions at AeroVironment
since joining the company in 1996. Flittie led the company’s High
Altitude Long Endurance UAS efforts, including the development, test and
demonstration of the Helios solar-powered unmanned aircraft and the $130
million customer-funded development, test and demonstration of the
Global Observer hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft. Flittie has served
as vice president of AeroVironment’s large UAS business since 2008.
Prior to joining AeroVironment, Flittie managed aerospace programs for
Northrop Grumman and American Rocket Company. Flittie earned a Bachelor
of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre
Dame, a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed the AeA/Stanford
Executive Institute’s program for high technology executives.
Ken Karklin served in a range of functional and customer facing roles
since joining AeroVironment in 2007. For the past year Karklin has
served as the company’s director of corporate quality systems. Karklin
previously held leadership roles at the company in Engineering,
Operations, Program management and in the EES services group. Prior to
joining AeroVironment, Karklin held engineering and engineering
management roles at a venture-funded start-up and at established
technology leaders Intel Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company and
Agilent Technologies. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
About AeroVironment, Inc.
AeroVironment is a technology solutions provider that designs, develops,
produces, supports and operates an advanced portfolio of Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS) and electric transportation solutions. The
company’s electric-powered, hand-launched unmanned aircraft systems
generate and process data to deliver powerful insight, on-demand, to
people engaged in military, public safety and commercial activities
around the world. AeroVironment’s electric transportation solutions
include a comprehensive suite of electric
vehicle (EV) charging systems, installation and network services for
consumers, automakers, utilities and government agencies, power
cycling and test systems for EV developers and industrial
electric vehicle charging systems for commercial fleets. More
information about AeroVironment is available at www.avinc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
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Reform Act of 1995. These statements are made on the basis of current
expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and
uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive,
governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may
cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from
those expressed or implied. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, our ability to perform under existing contracts and
obtain additional contracts; our reliance on sales to the U.S.
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changes in the supply and/or demand and/or prices for our products and
services; changes in the regulatory environment; the activities of
competitors; failure of the markets in which we operate to grow; failure
to expand into new markets; failure to develop new products or integrate
new technology with current products; and general economic and business
conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. For a
further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the
reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on
10-Q. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
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