Gentex Strengthens Focus on Automotive Tech with Executive Changes

Gentex has made a number of organizational changes aimed at strengthening its focus on automotive technology.

The company has announced that Brian Brackenbury has been promoted to a new position as Director of Connected Products, Interior Cameras and Biometrics. In making the announcement, Gentex noted that Brackenbury, who joined the company in 2015, “has more than 27 years of experience in automotive electronics and vehicle connectivity,” adding that in his time with Gentex he has helped to lead the introduction of new automotive technologies including HomeLink Connect and the Integrated Toll Module.

Meanwhile, Matt Chiodo has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Sales, having served in a range of sales-related roles with Gentex over the last 18 years; and Brad Bosma, Gentex’s former VP of European operations, has been named the Vice President of Vision Systems and Dimmable Glass.

Gentex has also appointed a VP of New Markets, Robert Vance, who is new to the company. In its announcement, Gentex explained that Vance has served as its VP of Business Development – Japan Automakers, but that in recent years he held a VP position with Innotec Corporation, an LED technology specialist. Now that he’s back with Gentex, Vance will primarily focus on “the strategic development of new technologies, partnerships and markets that leverage the Company’s core competencies.”

Commenting on the appointments, Gentex CEO Steve Downing asserted, “Our goal is to continually add new automotive features while aggressively pursuing new markets in which we can leverage these competencies.” A growing portion of that effort will likely involved biometric technology, Gentex having previously experimented with iris scanning technology for driver authentication, and having announced a partnership with fingerprint sensor specialist Fingerprint Cards at the start of this year.