March 11, 2019

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St. Louis

MO

United States

Bitrode Corporation, an innovative energy storage solutions company based in St. Louis, announces the appointment of Cyril Narishkin as CEO/COO to enhance innovation, service standards, and manufacturing processes that impact Bitrode’s global customer base. The decision was made on January 7 by Bitrode’s Board of Directors. Prior to assuming these leadership roles, Narishkin served as a consultant to the company for approximately eight months. He replaces Paolo Raponi.

“As our growing number of customers across the world rely on Bitrode to deliver products and support critical to their missions, we must continue to develop new ways to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction,” said Board President Arnaud Delahaye. “Under Cyril’s leadership, we expect 2019 to be a year of tremendous growth and opportunity. He is a collaborative leader and strategic problem solver who will be instrumental in Bitrode’s continuous evolution and success.”

Narishkin brings more than 30 years of international business consulting experience to the position. Multilingual, Narishkin trained as an Engineer at Tufts University and subsequently graduated from Washington University’s Olin Business School with an MBA. Before joining Bitrode, Narishkin led several successful turnarounds and consulted for many national and international firms, helping companies around the world streamline operations and increase revenue through the Lean Six Sigma method. Using Lean systematic methods, Narishkin plans to develop lean cells, simplifying material flow, eliminating unnecessary steps, and establishing consistency and quality control at Bitrode. The outcome will be dependable delivery of quality equipment to Bitrode’s customers.

Bitrode has been in operation since 1957 and since then has expanded its reach of sales and support throughout the world. Over the years, the company has developed a competitive edge through carefully cultivated relationships and inventive processes.

“I’m honored and excited to utilize the operational excellence skills I’ve garnered over the course of my career to lead Bitrode forward,” said Narishkin. “This is a year of proactive solutions and unparalleled customer service. We look forward to building on Bitrode’s strong foundation and improving products and services for customers around the globe.”

Narishkin has already made several key personnel changes:

• Craig Brunkhas been promoted to Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Brunk will leverage years of leadership at Emerson/Nidec and other large national and international firms.He holds a BSEE from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
• Mike Hillwas promoted to Vice President of Engineering and Quality. Hill brings a depth of experience in new product development and leading innovative teams and is a fellow Washington University’s Olin Business School alum.  Hill graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, IL with a B.A. in Physics
• Elaine Ratermanwas promoted to IT Manager.  Prior to her many years in firmware and software engineering at Bitrode, Raterman was an electronics design engineer for McDonald Douglas. She has both a BSEE and MSEE from the University of Missouri - Rolla.
• Ryan Bloodis the new Plant Manager. Blood has successfully implemented lean practices using the Toyota and Danaher models at four operations he led.

The Bitrode management team now consists of four lean practitioners who have each led companies in profitable growth. In 2019 and under the new leadership team, Bitrode plans to increase revenue while enhancing customized support and service standards.

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About Bitrode Corporation

Since 1957, battery manufacturers and developers around the globe have relied on Bitrode Corporation for innovative energy storage solutions. Starting as an in-house provider to a battery manufacturer in St. Louis, Missouri, Bitrode has continued to devote itself exclusively to serving the needs of the storage power industry. In 2008, Bitrode became a member of the Sovema family of companies, solidifying Bitrode as an even stronger player in the growing global battery markets. The company offers an extensive product line of battery formation and laboratory test equipment, as well as software tools, battery simulation, and manufacturing automation tools appropriate to all battery applications and chemistries. Bitrode remains committed to designing and building the most reliable, user-friendly, and configurable test equipment for the battery industry; providing world class customer support; and investing in research and development to advance battery testing technologies. For more, visit www.bitrode.com.