SmarTire Systems Inc. has appointed Leif Pedersen its new CEO and president, effective immediately. A senior sales and marketing executive with extensive global experience in electronic systems, Pedersen replaces Al Kozak, who has left the company to pursue other interests.
"Leif Pedersen brings to our company an ideal combination of management skills, technical expertise and worldwide marketing experience," says Chairman Robert Rudman. "He will provide the leadership required to move SmarTire to its next major stage of development by enabling the company to accomplish its vision for mobile wireless sensing platforms.
"The board of directors is committed to SmarTire's vision and is confident that Leif will accelerate our corporate growth by exploiting its competitive advantages in the international tire monitoring marketplace and by leveraging this strong position in the pursuit of an expanded product offering.
"Finally, the board appreciates of the efforts and contributions of Al Kozak, who served SmarTire as the chief operations officer and as the president and CEO. We wish him well in his future endeavors."
Pedersen, a Norwegian citizen, was formerly the managing director of Consilium GmbH in Hamburg, Germany. In his previous position, he was responsible for marketing, sales, support and service for a complete line of technical products for the maritime industry including radar, speed logs and various monitoring and detection systems.
He also served as program director for SensoNor ASA, a company specializing in the development and production of micro sensors for automotive applications.
