Comtech HQ (photo by Comtech)

Comtech Telecommunications appointed Chairman Ken Peterman its new president and CEO, succeeding Michael Porcelain, effective immediately. The company announced the change on Aug. 10, less than seven months after Porcelain took the helm of the company.  Porcelain has also resigned from Comtech’s board of directors.

Peterman has worked at companies such as Viasat, ITT/Exelis, Collins Aerospace, Raytheon and SpyGlass Group over a 40-year career. He joined Comtech’s board in May after a board-led search for an independent director.

Comtech has gone through a number of changes to leadership over the past year including longtime CEO Fred Kornberg’s retirement and new members to its board of directors.

“I am genuinely excited about Comtech’s enormous potential. Thanks to our dedicated employees, our mission-critical technology portfolio, and our customer-centric culture, I believe Comtech is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the significant investment, steepening growth trajectories and continual renewal cycles taking place in assured communications, space and satellite networks and next-generation 911 failsafe communications infrastructures,” Peterman said in a statement.

Comtech lowered its fiscal year 2022 targets in the company’s most recent financial results. Then-CEO Porcelain said the company’s challenges are near-term supply side constraints and timing issues rather than softening demand.

“We, like businesses everywhere, continue to confront one of the most difficult operating environments in memory, as the global economy struggles to find its footing amidst a pandemic, geopolitical conflict, surging inflationary pressures, changes in government spending priorities, and worsening supply chain disruptions. Simply, this is a genuinely tough environment in which to do business,” Porcelain wrote.

At the start of the year, Comtech was expecting to achieve 2022 net sales in the range of $580 million to $600 million. But in the most recent financial results the company updated fiscal 2022 year guidance, expecting consolidated net sales of approximately $482 million.