Vancouver, Canada: Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW), a world leading IoT solutions provider, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Phil Brace as its new President and CEO, effective July 26, 2021. The current President and CEO, Kent Thexton, will stay on at Sierra Wireless until August 13, 2021 to complete the transition.  

“I am thrilled to welcome Phil to Sierra Wireless,” said Robin Abrams, Chair of the Sierra Wireless Board of Directors. “After an extensive search process, we are pleased to have secured a high-caliber candidate with a strong track record and more than 25 years’ experience in the semiconductor, server, and storage industries including hardware, software, services, engineering, marketing, and sales. I am confident Phil will add significant value in leading Sierra Wireless’ continued growth as a global IoT solutions provider.”

Phil Brace has an extensive technology and operations background and was most recently Executive Vice President at Veritas Technologies. His previous executive roles include President of Seagate Technology’s Cloud Systems and Electronic Solutions, Executive Vice President at LSI Corporation, and General Manager at Intel Corporation. Brace holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Science from the University of Waterloo and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Sacramento.

“The global IoT solutions market is growing rapidly and Sierra Wireless is well positioned to lead with its strong portfolio of connectivity services, gateways, and embedded modules. I am very excited to join the company and look forward to making a major impact to drive growth and profitability,” said Brace.

Board Chair Robin Abrams also commented: “On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Kent for his significant contributions to Sierra Wireless, both over the 13 years he spent as a member of the Board and over the last three years as CEO. Thanks to his vision and leadership, Sierra has successfully transformed from a hardware-only company to a strong and dynamic market leader in IoT services and solutions. We wish Kent all the best in his retirement.” 

“The transformation of Sierra Wireless into a leader in complete IoT Solutions has been an exciting journey and the business has great sales momentum,” said Thexton. “The Industrial IoT market is in the early stages of digitizing all its assets and Sierra Wireless is growing with the key leaders in this market.  Further growth is coming from 5G and the strong market acceptance of Sierra Wireless new 5G gateways. I am excited to see Phil lead the team and the company to great success.”