The board of directors of ECR International, Utica, NY, announced that it has appointed Ronald J. Passafaro to serve as chief operating officer and board member. Passafaro will become president/CEO after the completion of a management transition in which Passafaro will replace Mike Paparone.

Passafaro was vice president of sales and marketing of ECR from 1989-2010. In that position, he was responsible for opening the export market into China for ECR products. He also led global strategic alliances in product development, manufacturing, branding and distribution agreements with companies in Asia and Europe.

During his tenure he was general manager for Climate Energy, LLC, a joint venture between ECR and Yankee Scientific, focused on micro-combined heat and power alternative energy based products. He also served as vice president of Engineering for the company from 2006-2008.

“I am honored to return to a company and a market that I'm deeply committed to, and look forward to working with all ECR employees to focus on our core competency — heating and cooling products,” Passafaro says.

Additionally, the ECR board elected four other new directors, including Earle C. Reed, William Terill, Christopher Kearns and Kevin Sanvidge. Earle Reed was named chairman of the board, replacing Steve Sweet, who is among a group of directors resigning from the board. Other resigning directors include Frederick Hager, Andy Burns and Andy Dorn. Tim Reed, Tom Reed, and Parker Weld are continuing as directors of ECR.

“In the last few years, we have reaffirmed our commitment to the communities of Utica and Dunkirk based on our $14 million dollar investment in our facilities there, and with this new leadership and new Board a new course will be charted to leverage this investment to grow the company,” Reed says.