Tim Thorsteinson, long-time leader of the Grass Valley Group, has taken the reins of Toronto-based Leitch Technology.
Thorsteinson brings turn-around experience to Leitch, where revenues dropped precipitously this year. It finished its Q1 in July with a $5.1 million loss on revenues of $37.5 million, which were down 20 percent from the previous year. Q4 revenues were likewise down 20 percent from last year.
Thorsteinson ushered a stagnating Grass Valley Group into profitability just two years after taking over in 1997, when it was still owned by Tektrionix. Thorsteinson came to the insular Group after starting at Tektronix in the human resources department. He remained at the head of GVG through its spin-off and ultimate sale to Thomson. He will relocate to Toronto, where Leitch's shareholder meeting is scheduled to take place Dec. 8.
He was replaced at Thomson by Jean-Marc Hoffer, who was vice president of European sales with GVG before Thomson bought it. Post-acquisition, Hoffer ran the R&D marketing teams working on broadcast products.
