Turning Technologies taps CFO as its new president

By Don Shilling

The technology company said splitting its leadership duties will help it grow.

YOUNGSTOWN —Turning Technologies is moving into its new building downtown with a new president.

The company said Monday that Dave Kauer has been named president and chief operating officer. He was hired last year as chief financial officer.

Mike Broderick, one of the company’s original founders, had been president and chief executive. He will retain the CEO title and be responsible for strategic direction of the company and the innovation and expansion of its audience response systems for lectures and conferences.

Kauer will manage the daily operations, including order fulfillment, finance, human resources and manufacturing.

“Mike was getting bogged down on internal issues, day-to-day, running-the-business issues,” Kauer said.

Broderick wouldn’t give specifics but said he is working on some projects that will lead to dramatic growth.

Turning Technologies has grown so much already that it is moving from the Youngstown Business Incubator on West Federal Street to the Taft Technology Center, which has been built adjacent to the incubator with government grant money. The company is relocating its 130 employees May 1.

Broderick said he brought Kauer aboard last year because of his experience in working with much larger companies.

Kauer has more than 25 years of experience in a variety of financial and operating roles with Johnson Controls, a Fortune 100 company, and Insilco Technologies, a privately held company with more than $400 million in revenue.

He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin and is a certified public accountant.

Inc. Magazine last year ranked Turning Technologies as the fastest-growing, privately held software company in the U.S.

Entrepreneur Magazine ranked it last year as the seventh-fastest growing small business in the nation with $20.6 million in sales in 2006. Sales increased to nearly $28 million in 2007.

Broderick and two others started the company in 2001 and recorded just $111,000 in sales the following year.

shilling@vindy.com