Ken Hoover, Softing, Joins Board of Directors

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – PI North America, the non-profit trade organization for PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies in North America, is proud to announce the appointment of Ken Hoover, President of Softing North America, to its Board of Directors. The Board voted unanimously to approve Mr. Hoover’s nomination and he plans to attend his first Board meeting later this year.

As President of its North American operations, Mr. Hoover is responsible for overseeing all development, marketing, and sales activities at Softing for the USA and Canada. Prior to joining Softing in 2001, Ken also held management positions with IDT (now Eaton), was General Manager of GN Telematic (US Subsidiary of GNT in Denmark), and was VP of Sales and Marketing at Nematron.

Mr. Hoover comments, “Softing has been involved with PROFIBUS from the very beginning with embedded solutions for the technology. Now with the growing adoption of PROFINET, we want to be an integral part of its success in North America.” Softing’s product portfolio also includes interface cards/gateways, network monitoring tools, and OPC solutions.

“Softing brings a unique perspective to the Board. One that we look forward to incorporating into our existing plans,” says Michael Bryant, Executive Director of PI North America. “By joining the Board, the company can now play a pivotal role in determining the strategic direction of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in North America. Ken’s leadership will help us expand the efforts of our Board to bring the technologies to an even wider market.” Mr. Hoover will join fellow Board members Bernie Anger of GE Intelligent Platforms, Raj Batra of Siemens Industry, Mike Rothwell of Phoenix Contact, and Mr. Bryant.