Universal Instruments Appoints Koen Vinck General Manager of EMEA Customer Operations

Universal Instruments Corporation announces the appointment of Koen Vinck as General Manager of European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) Customer Operations, reporting to Brad Bennett, Vice President of Global Customer Operations. All customer-facing resources in the region will report to Mr. Vinck.

December 22, 2011 - Koen Vinck most recently held the position of South Europe Regional Manager at Universal and has more than 10 years experience with the company. In this new role, he is responsible for strengthening Universal’s European infrastructure and growing market share in the region. He will lead the EMEA Customer Operations from the Bratislava, Slovakia central office.

CBA President and CEO Jean-Luc Pelissier notes, “Koen will play an integral role as Universal advances in support of our customers in the traditional European markets, such as automotive, but also will help us achieve a higher level of support and enable growth in the emerging “green” markets.” Pelissier continues, “We’re enthusiastic and looking forward to his extensive industry and channel management expertise driving improved relationships with our existing and prospective customer base in the region.”

On the new appointment, Koen notes, “This is an exciting opportunity to significantly and positively impact Universal’s position in Europe and I am very eager to take on this challenge. Our 2011 sales in the region grew by more than 13 percent from 2010 despite a slowing global economy. Additionally, this year’s launch of the Advantis 3® Platform won us over 10 new European customers and we gained new accounts in target markets including Set-Top Box, LCD TV, Solid-State Lighting, Solar CPV and Power Conversion.”

Koen adds, “I look forward to leveraging this momentum, as we have the resources and knowledge to provide the highest level of support to our European customers and the value-added offerings to substantially develop our presence here. Our equipment portfolio is the most comprehensive in the industry and we fortify that with complementary software and the exclusive expertise of our Advanced Process Lab to deliver optimized factory-wide solutions to electronics manufacturers. From smaller high-mix EMSs to high-volume OEMs, we’re uniquely positioned to best suit their specific requirements.”

Koen previously held leadership positions in Corporate Key Management for Universal Instruments and Johnson Electric – a leader in Micromotors, Human Machine Interfaces and Infrastructure Control Systems. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics from the NA.RA.FI. in Brussels.