LeapFrog Enterprises, manufacturer of the well-known children's LeapPad multimedia product, announced the hiring of Jeffrey G. Katz as CEO and president. Katz immediately took over the position from Tom Kalinske. Kalinske continued to serve as vice chairman of the board. Katz was a great hire.
He was the founding chairman and CEO of Orbitz, the ecommerce travel site. Prior to
Orbitz, Katz was the COO of Swissair and before that worked with American Air. While with American Air he served as the President of the Computerized Reservation System Division of SABRE. Katz is also a director on a number of boards. He was the kind of executive choice that had the potential to take the firm to another level.So far, the choice has worked out. Keep a close eye on the firm.
Capstone Turbines on the other hand, was a different situation. The company's principal activity is to develop, manufacture and market microturbine generators. The company was already having problems when the company announced in late July that its CEO, John Tucker, citing personal reasons had submitted his resignation effective July 31 as President, CEO and director. The company did not have a ready successor and in the interim, appointed Mark Galbreth, th
e company's executive vice president and chief operating officer, to serve as president and chief executive. Not until December 12th did the company find a replacement for Tucker. The company named Darren R. Jamison its new president, CEO and director. Jamison while an acceptable appointment did not appear to have the depth of high level experience and skills necessary to help turn the ship.Prior to joining Capstone, he had been President and Chief Operating Officer of Northern Power Systems, Inc. since 2004. Previous to Northern Power Systems he was Vice President and General Manager of Distributed Energy Solutions for Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. from 1994 to 2003.
We will just have to wait and see.
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