Chatsworth Products names new CEO
Simi Valley-based Chatsworth Products, a global manufacturer of products that power industrial automation applications, has a new CEO and president.
The company announced Dec. 12 that Ted Behrens will succeed Michael Custer, CEO and president of the 100% employee-owned company for the last nine-plus years, who is retiring.
Behrens’ appointment is effective Jan. 1.
He has held various roles during his 14 years with Chatsworth, including Director of Product Management, Vice President of Operations, and Executive Vice President of Global Engineering and Product Management.
Custer, who has been with the company for 27 years in different capacities, praised Behrens’ work for the firm.
“Ted Behrens has proven his success in leading product management and operations for the company and is poised to add tremendous value in leading our executive team,” Custer said in a press release.
Behrens’ tenure at the firm, “paired with his deep understanding of our core values makes him a natural fit to lead the company towards its next stage of growth,” Custer said.
Before coming to the company, Behrens was the CEO of Epicenter Inc., a provider of data center infrastructure management tools to the enterprise and managed services market.
Epicenter Inc. was acquired by Chatsworth in 2009.
Behrens lauded Custer’s tenure as CEO and president.
“Mike’s visionary and compassionate leadership has been instrumental in CPI’s remarkable achievements over the past twenty-seven years of his service,” he said.
“It is a privilege to lead our dedicated team of partners who share a passion in building great products, serving our customers, and building collective value as employee-owners,” Behrens said.
Though retiring, Custer will serve as an independent member of the company’s board, ensuring a smooth transition of leadership to Behrens, the company said.
Chatsworth opened its new global headquarters in Simi Valley in October 2022.
It more than doubles the manufacturing footprint of the company and is the firm’s largest facility in California.
Located at 4175 Guardian St., inside the Simi Valley Business Park, it has 125,000 square feet of manufacturing, shipping and office space.
Company officials said Simi Valley was the ideal location for the new headquarters given the city’s proximity to the firm’s other facilities in Chatsworth, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village.
Chatsworth in June 2023 reached a partnership with San Jose-based ZutaCore, which makes a direct-on-chip dielectric liquid cooling technology that efficiently absorbs heat away from high-powered processors.
The partnership allows Chatsworth to improve efficiency inside data centers, the company said.
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