Dyson is looking to position itself as a technology leader in the appliance space with the announcement that the English brand has appointed a new board member from the consumer electronics space.
Warren East, former CEO of ARM Holdings, has joined Dyson as a non-executive board director, working alongside other non-executive board members including James Dyson’s two sons, Jake and Sam Dyson.
Also based in England, ARM Holdings designs microprocessor and semiconductor technology which it licenses to third-party technology companies including Sharp, Samsung, Epson and IBM. East worked as CEO of ARM for 12 years and, according to a statement from Dyson, “revenue grew from around $200 million to nearly $1 billion” at the company during his tenure.
East joins a number of recently-appointed board members, including fellow technology industry stalwart Jim Rowan, who joined Dyson as chief operating officer in 2012 from BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion), where he was also COO.
With the Dyson brand boasting “double-digit global growth and an expanding range of technologies”, Dyson CEO Max Conze said the new appointments brought considerable experience to the appliance company.
“Dyson is expanding — we are entering new markets, growing in existing ones, and building up a technology pipeline that will take us on new adventures,” said Conze. “We’ve got bright minds across every part of the business and our direction is clear. Now is the right time to build on that blueprint with extra expertise from industries ranging from telecommunications, to automobiles, to computing.”
In typical irreverent style, company founder James Dyson also commented on the appointment of the new board members.
“Dyson is investing at the core — in new technologies and in highly skilled engineers,” he said. “The new board shares my faith in research and development; their enthusiasm for our forthcoming inventions is very encouraging, as is their sound advice, though I can’t promise I will always listen!”
Following a successful launch in China last November (the brand is currently selling in 38 cities across the country, with plans to grow that number to 65 by the year’s end), Dyson confirmed plans to launch in “new markets” in Asia and Latin America in 2013. Dyson also opened a new £150 million “high technology motor manufacturing facility” in Singapore this year in the Asia market.
The brand currently sells 85 per cent of its machines outside the UK, with the United States currently Dyson’s biggest international market