Edmund Optics Inc. announced recently that Dr. Thomas Kessler has been promoted to executive vice president of global sales, effective Feb. 1, 2011, following the planned retirement of Allan Kreutzer at the end of January. Working from Karlsruhe, Germany, Kessler has been responsible for all of the company’s European sales and distribution operations as vice president of European operations. He will assume the additional responsibilities of managing the sales teams in the Americas and Asia as the company continues to expand its sales growth and standard product offerings. “I look forward to expanding our operations into new countries while also building our large-account customers in our main markets, including the United States, Japan and Germany,” said Kessler. Prior to joining Edmund, Kessler served with Schott in Mainz, Germany, as director of product management, sales, marketing and supply chain for Schott’s Advanced Optics business. Kreutzer will retire in January with more than 30 years of experience in the optics industry. In addition to Edmund, he has worked at Lambda Research and Schott. Edmund Optics produces optics, imaging and photonics technology for R&D, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, biomedical and military markets. For more information, visit: www.edmundoptics.com