Lighting manufacturer Zumtobel has announced that Ann Reo has been appointed Chief Development Officer for the Americas. Reo, who is trained in both architecture and lighting design has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. Her interest in luminaire design emerged while working for the electrical engineering department of an architecture firm, which involved a fair amount of custom luminaire design. In 2002, she established io Lighting, and the company was soon recognized as a leader in the LED luminaire category. Cooper Lighting (now Eaton), acquired io in 2007. Prior to joining Zumtobel, Reo was senior vice president of product development at Soraa.
At Zumtobel Americas, Reo will be responsible for “growing the business in both North and South America.” She will also expand “Zumtobel’s regional lighting applications capabilities” and help advance the company’s product development. This is particularly critical as Zumtobel, like many global lighting companies, pushes to reduce, and even eliminate variations in product introduction times in different world regions. Over the past few years, the company has made a concentrated effort to develop new luminaires jointly between its U.S. and Austrian teams in Highland, N.Y. and Dornbirn, Austria, respectively.
In a prepared statement Kevin Maddy, CEO of Zumtobel Americas said, “For the past three years, we have been laser focused on new product introductions and improving our U.S. operations now tracking at a consistent 98% on-time delivery. The result has been double-digit growth rates here in the Americas. I see Ann joining our team as the next critical step toward rapidly growing the business in both North and South America. I am honored to have someone with the demonstrated track record and caliber of Reo join the Zumtobel Americas team.”
