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Lutron Electronics of Coopersburg, Pa., the world’s leading manufacturer of lighting controls, has promoted Michael W. Pessina ’76 to executive vice president and chief operating officer.
In his 26-year career with Lutron, Pessina has acquired broad experience in the engineering, quality assurance, and manufacturing departments. He was named vice president of manufacturing operations in 1996, and took on additional responsibilities as general manager of the Grafik Systems business unit in 1997. He was promoted to senior vice president in 2000.
“My position isn’t so much a job as it is an opportunity to work with sales, engineering, operations, personnel, and other company teams to create a greater awareness and use of lighting controls,” says Pessina. “As teams, and as a corporation, we’re always working on ways to take better care of our customers – and I have an opportunity to help shape that from a global perspective.
“Our number one challenge is to develop our people to be successful in a quickly changing world,” he continues. “We must be flexible in order to adapt to then rapid sociological, technological and economic changes that are taking place around us.”
An electrical engineering graduate, Pessina earned an MBA from Lehigh. He is a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and certified quality engineer through American Society of Quality. He also is a member of Association of Manufacturing Excellence, National Association of Manufacturers, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers.
Pessina says that colleges and universities have a very important job — preparing young people who can adapt to change, for careers in technical and business disciplines that evolve at an incredibly fast pace.
“Lafayette is a small school with a strong background in engineering and liberal arts,” he says. “I received a good technical education and had an opportunity to take courses in the arts, which gave me a well-rounded perspective. I was also able to work closely with faculty members who helped me develop my engineering capabilities and apply this knowledge in real-world situations.”
Lutron has operations in the Lehigh Valley (Pa.), Richmond, Vir., St. Kitts and Puerto Rico; and sales offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.