Former GE, Planar Systems Exec

Avidyne Corporation announced Tuesday the appointment of Patrick Herguth as the company's new Chief Operating Officer. A veteran of General Electric and Planar Systems, Herguth brings experience in high-growth businesses and mission-critical products to help guide the continuing expansion of Avidyne’s avionics product lines and market presence, according to the avionics manufacturer.

"The appointment of Patrick to focus on the day-to-day operational aspects at Avidyne is a significant milestone for us and an important part of our growth strategy as we continue to expand our product lines and markets," said Avidyne President Dan Schwinn. "Patrick has deep experience with display solutions in mission-critical and highly regulated markets and in managing the day-to-day aspects of a fast-growing organization with a culture of innovation."

Herguth most recently was vice president and general manager of the Medical Business Unit at Planar Systems, a $232 million maker of display hardware and software used in medical, computing, transportation, business and other specialized markets. At Planar he managed the $44 million unit based in Waltham, MA, and was instrumental in its increased profitability over a two-year period.

Previously, Herguth was general manager for the $30 million Laboratory and Medication Management Systems unit at GE Healthcare. He also spent two years at GE integrating recently acquired businesses within the healthcare information technology market and successfully directed their growth and profitability. Prior to the integration role he managed a marketing team that helped drive business within the segment from $80 million to over $120 million in less than two years.

Before joining GE, Herguth held management and engineering positions at Eastman Kodak Company’s Health Imaging Division and at Hitachi Medical Corporation’s Ultrasound Division.

Herguth earned a BS in applied and engineering physics from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.

Avidyne manufactures the Entegra integrated flight deck for new aircraft, Envision integrated flight decks for existing aircraft, datalink-capable EX5000 and EX500 multi-function displays and the dual-antenna TAS600 series of active traffic advisory systems, the MLB700 broadcast datalink receiver and the TWX670 Tactical Weather Detection system.

FMI: www.avidyne.com