Electronics Firm Names President Glen Griffin Is New Chief

After seven years of frustration, a small Spokane start-up company is poised for a major break through, according to its new president.

Consolidated Electronics, which manufactures unique products for the utility, semiconductor and marine industries, may finally be ready to live up to the potential for which it has been touted the last couple of years.

“This company is on the verge of exploding,” Glen Griffin said Friday. “Not just being profitable or successful, but really exploding.

“This month will easily be the biggest month we’ve ever had,” Griffin said, “and next month we’ll double it.”

This long-anticipated growth spurt is one reason Consolidated’s board of directors on Thursday named Griffin to succeed Wendell Satre as company president.

Griffin joined Consolidated as executive vice president in March.

Satre, the retired chairman of Washington Water Power Co., who is an investor in Consolidated, has served as the company’s president and board chairman the past two years. Griffin said Satre has overseen the long process of grooming Consolidated for success. Now that the initial signs of that success are appearing, Satre wants to concentrate on the company’s long-range planning and financing.

Satre will remain a “very hands-on” chairman of the board, Griffin said. “But there’s more than just one or two people can handle now at the executive level so Wendell suggested I take over the day-to-day operations.”

Consolidated was built around a patented monitoring device that keeps track of the temperature of coolants in the huge circuit breakers used by utility companies.

The company also holds patents on two other products. One is a monitoring system for marine engine drives. The other is a semiconductor testing system. The tester can identify the single semiconductor at fault in the failure of a larger electrical system.

, DataTimes