Blonder Tongue Appoints Bruce Gureck as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Blonder Tongue Laboratories INC (NYSEA:BDR) announced that effective April 23, the company’s board of directors have appointed Bruce A. Gureck as their executive vice president and chief operating officer.

As quoted in the press release:

Bruce will report directly to Bob Pallé, the Company’s, CEO and President. Initially, Bruce will focus on the Company’s engineering, marketing, and sales activities. The heads of each of those departments will report directly to Bruce.

Bruce is a degreed engineer and seasoned leader, with significant experience working in the satellite, cable, and telecommunications industries. Bruce has led successful development, marketing, and sales teams for more than 25 years, building and managing high-growth, high technology, sales and manufacturing organizations.

Immediately prior to joining Blonder Tongue, Bruce served as Chief Technology Officer at Humax, a $1.4 Billion revenues electronics manufacturer, where his responsibilities included defining product direction, developing customer relationships and expansion of that company’s presence in existing and new product markets.

Bruce spent 11 years with Pace plc, rising to the level of Chief Product and Strategy Officer, working closely with the CEO to expand their development, sales, and market penetration worldwide. During his tenure at Pace, Bruce drove acquisitions, product management and engineering efforts, which resulted in a significant positive impact on the company’s overall value. Bruce’s tenure culminated with the 2015 sale of Pace to Arris in a $2.1 Billion transaction, at a premium to market of more than 25%. Bruce remained with Arris, post-acquisition, until 2016.

Prior to his tenure at Pace, Bruce held several other significant leadership positions, including an integral role in the formation and growth of Digital Latin America, a partnership between General Instrument Corporation, Liberty Media and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, preceded by several years with General Instrument Corporation as a Product Manager for digital TV products.

Commenting on Bruce’s appointment, CEO and President, Bob Pallé said, “We are extremely pleased that Bruce has joined the Blonder Tongue family. Over Bruce’s nearly 30-year career in the cable, satellite, and telecom markets, Bruce has proven to be a highly motivated and effective leader, driven to deliver bottom-line results, with a focus on the enhancement of shareholder value.”

Regarding his appointment as Chief Operating Officer, Bruce Gureck said, “I am proud to be joining a company that has delivered innovative and quality products to the industry for many decades. It will be exciting to work with the team that built the BT legacy and to become a part of Blonder Tongue’s bright future.”

In connection with Bruce’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer, the Company has granted him an employment inducement award comprised of an aggregate of 400,000 shares of restricted stock, subject to time-based vesting conditions. One quarter of the aggregate inducement award (100,000 shares) will vest on each of the next four one-year anniversaries after the effective date, April 23, 2018, provided that Bruce remains an active employee of the Company on each such date. The inducement award contains certain acceleration provisions in the event of a change in control. The inducement award of shares of restricted stock was made outside of the Company’s 2016 Employee Equity Incentive Plan and approved by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors in reliance on the employment inducement exception to shareholder approval provided under the NYSE American Company Guide, Section 711(a), which requires public announcement of inducement awards.

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