2011

Jeff Kyle joins as a Blackbird Partner

December 1, 2011 Jeff Kyle adds to the depth and breadth of the Blackbird partner team bringing over 25 years of executive management and operating experience from both technology and industry sectors. Mr. Kyle is a seasoned executive leader with a broad background in multi-national technology and industrial companies. His previous roles include Chief Financial Officer for Sensus, a leading clean tech smart grid company, and Power-One, a clean tech market leading power conversion company. Mr. Kyle has also held senior executive operating roles in SanDisk, the world’s largest flash memory company and Compaq Computers, a market leader in enterprise computing. He is a results-orientated executive who excels at developing and implementing growth strategies that shape markets and deliver customer value. He is a CPA and has a degree in Accounting and Finance from University of Oregon.

Blackbird acquires Concise International

May 13, 2011 Concise is a thirty seven year diversified precision metal fabricator focused on producing high-quality, close tolerance products. The company boasts a solid client roster of Fortune 500 companies, with operating facilities in Tucson AZ and Nogales, Mexico. (www.concisefab.com)

JD Johnson joins as a Blackbird Partner

April 1, 2011 JD Johnson adds to the depth and breadth of the Blackbird partner team bringing over 25 years of executive commercial and operating management experience across both industrial and technology sectors. Mr. Johnson was previously at IMI plc, a multi-national holding company where he served as president of the Norgren Americas division responsible for end-to-end operations for a diverse offering of fluid control products. Prior to IMI plc Mr. Johnson served as Vice President and General Manager for C&D technologies, a leading developer and manufacturer of power storage and conversion products. Prior to C&D Mr. Johnson was the Global Vice President of Operations at ELDEC, a leading solutions provider to the aerospace and military sectors. He has an Engineering degree from Brigham Young University.

Joe Asfour now focused full time at Blackbird

March 1, 2011 Joe Asfour, Co-founding partner, has committed himself to fulltime at Blackbird after his recent departure from IMI plc, a multi-national holding company where he served as President of DCI Marketing, the Merchandising Division of IMI plc.

Mr. Asfour brings a wealth of commercial and management experience to Blackbird based on his progressive executive roles over the last fifteen years with IMI plc as well as over eighteen years of deep commercial management experience with Wilshire Corporation a leading global foodservice equipment business acquired by IMI plc in 1997.