Wall Street and at least one notable area investor have signaled approval of Lantronix Inc.’s new chief executive Paul Pickle.
News of Pickle’s hire sent shares of the Irvine-based maker of Internet of Things and secure data products up more than 20% to $3.14 and a $70 million market cap on March 26, in the first intraday trading session after the announcement.
Shares have risen a bit since then, trading at about $3.50 and a $78 million valuation as of press time.
Pickle served more than nine years in various executive roles at Microsemi Corp., including nearly five years as president and chief operating officer until last May, when the Aliso Viejo-based chipmaker was sold for $10.3 billion to Microchip Technology Inc. in suburban Phoenix.
The Business Journal was the first to report that Pickle and the rest of Microsemi’s senior management team were cut by Microchip Chief Executive Steve Sanghi the day the deal closed.
Pickle, 48, then took the top job at Zott Inc., a Dana Point startup that developed an entertainment and educational content platform to enhance patient experience during hospital stays.
His former boss at Microsemi, James Peterson, last year became a significant Lantronix investor and heralded the new hire.
“Pickle is the man for the job,” Peterson—known locally as Jimmy P—said via email. He is “a dedicated advocate of corporate growth.”
Added Peterson: “This time they ‘got it right!’”
That’s a not too subtle dig at the company’s prior chief executive, Jeff Benck, who was hired in late 2015 after four straight years of revenue declines.
Benck resigned March 8 to take the top post at Tempe, Ariz.-based Benchmark Electronics Inc. (NYSE: BHE), a contract manufacturer with a $1 billion market cap and $2.3 billion in annual revenue.
Peterson suggested to the Business Journal at the time of Benck’s departure that a serious change in corporate strategy should be considered at Lantronix.
Peterson Capital, which he launched after the Microsemi executive exodus, disclosed in mid-August that it took a 6.4% ownership stake in Lantronix, which Peterson retains.
Benck, to his credit, made operational and strategic turns to capture more of the Internet of Things market, a growing segment for devices connected to the internet and ones that enable machines to communicate with each other.
Lantronix, which makes electronic devices and related software that secures online communication in medical equipment, motor vehicles and retail terminals among other products, is on pace to grow the top and bottom line for the third straight fiscal year as it continues to capitalize on its push into new segments.
“Our growth strategy for the company includes both organic growth through new and innovative IoT solutions such as the latest lineup of embedded and external gateways that we have launched over the past 12-18 months, as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions,” Vice President of Marketing Shahram Mehraban said late last month, after the hiring announcement.
“Paul certainly has an extensive experience and a long list of accomplishments during his tenure at Microsemi.”
Cleantech Conference at UCI
Sustain SoCal will hold its 10th annual conference April 11 at its headquarters at University of California-Irvine’s Applied Innovation center.
The event, previously called Cleantech OC, is expected to draw 200 private and public sector workers and utility constituents to hear from energy infrastructure specialists on new approaches in energy technologies, upgrading legacy systems and building new energy infrastructure.
“We at Sustain SoCal are constantly in pursuit of clean/green solutions that make economic sense; ways in which to grow that economy and where our community can benefit in the broadest sense,” Chief Executive Scott Kitcher told the Business Journal.
Keynote speaker is Congressman and House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee member Harley Rouda (D-48th District), who defeated Republican Dana Rohrabacher in the November midterms.
OC Science Fair
Local businesses, volunteers and nonprofits played a key role in the 64th annual Orange County Science and Engineering Fair, which concluded March 22 at the Business Expo Center in Anaheim.
The three-day event, which attracted more than 630 students from 95 schools and 500 projects, was sponsored by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Broadcom Foundation, Raytheon Corp., Chapman University, New England Academy and Anaheim Business Expo.
The mission of the fair is to enable students to improve science and engineering skills and literacy while inspiring them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
“These bright young minds are tackling the world’s largest problems like clean energy and diseases,” said OCSEF President Prasanthi Sathyaprakash, director of global operations at Irvine chip startup Syntiant.
