RICHMOND, B.C. — SmarTire has announced Leif Pedersen will lead the company as its new president and CEO.

Pedersen replaces former president Al Kozak, who left the company to pursue other interests. Pedersen is described as a senior sales and marketing executive with extensive global experience in electronic systems.

“Leif Pedersen brings to our company an ideal combination of management skills, technical expertise and worldwide marketing experience,” said SmarTire chairman, Robert Rudman. “He will provide the leadership required to move SmarTire to its next major stage of development by enabling the company to accomplish its vision for mobile wireless sensing platforms. The board of directors is committed to SmarTire’s vision and is confident that Leif will accelerate our corporate growth by exploiting its competitive advantages in the international tire monitoring marketplace and by leveraging this strong position in the pursuit of an expanded product offering. Finally, the board appreciates the efforts and contributions of Al Kozak, who served SmarTire as the chief operations officer and as the president and CEO. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”