NI promotes Francis Griffiths to VP of sales for Europe

After graduating with a BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology in Cardiff, Griffiths joined National Instruments UK & Ireland in 1989, shortly after the Branch opened, as an Applications Engineer on the NI Engineering Leadership Program (ELP). The ELP is the premier training and development programme for graduate engineers at National Instruments, building technical and leadership skills to prepare them for successful careers at NI.

Griffiths was promoted to District Sales Manager in 1992 and, after more than doubling sales in his territory, was promoted again to UK & Ireland Branch Manager just four years later in 1996. During his three-year tenure, the branch developed its Alliance Partner program, more than doubled its sales and staff, and moved from distribution to a direct sales channel in Ireland.

Since 1999, as European Director, Griffiths has been responsible for European Sales, during which time sales across the continent have almost doubled, and many new branch offices have opened, including several new offices in high-growth areas of Eastern Europe.

Throughout his eighteen-year career with NI, Griffiths has worked with many European major accounts and partners, including BAE Systems, Nokia, Siemens, Nissan, Motorola, Xerox, TRW, BP, Tektronix and Ericsson. Recently, he has worked closely with the National Instruments RF team and UK-based Select Alliance Partner, Amfax, focusing on significant global opportunities in the communications industry.

Now, as Vice President of Sales for Europe, Griffiths is responsible for sales across Europe, as well as working with sales management worldwide to ensure the NI global sales force evolves with the company's ongoing growth and expansion into new areas such as high-end RF test and embedded design.

He says: "It is a real honour for me to receive this recognition, working for such a great company. It has been enormously exciting, challenging and rewarding working with our employees, customers and partners in the UK and across Europe over these past 18 years. We have been able to deliver huge productivity improvements with our technologies in the test, measurement and automation space, and I look forward to continuing to develop this successful partnership".

The eight promotions to Vice President have occurred across three departments, including research and development, G&A, and sales and marketing:

• Francis Griffiths, Vice President of Sales, Europe
• Victor Mieres, Vice President of Sales, Asia Pacific
• Owen Golden, Vice President of Sales, Americas
• John Hanks, Vice President of Product Marketing, Data Acquisition and Industrial Control
• Tony Vento, Vice President, Applications Engineering
• Jon Bellin, Vice President of R&D, Application and System Software
• Kevin Schultz, Vice President of R&D, Data Acquisition and Distributed I/O
• Arleene Porterfield, Vice President, Global Information Technology

James Truchard, NI President and CEO, comments: "With nearly 150 combined years of service to NI, all eight of these individuals have been key leaders and contributors to the company's long track record of sustained growth and innovation. As NI works toward its goal of $1billion in annual revenue, I believe our expanded management team positions NI to deliver continued customer success, streamlined decision making and critical strategic direction for future success."

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