Avnet, a global technology distributor in the IoT, has announced the promotion of Lou Lutostanski to the role of Vice President of Internet of Things (IoT), effective immediately. Lutostanski will report directly to Pete Bartolotta, Chief Transformation Officer for Avnet. In his new role, Lutostanski will strengthen Avnet’s IoT strategy and further Avnet’s reach to makers, entrepreneurs, startups and other IoT innovators, enabling them to bring their IoT solutions to market, from idea to production.
“Leading the development of IoT is a core part of Avnet’s strategy for success. Lou brings decades of experience and industry knowledge to this important role,” said Bartolotta. “The ability to reach a wider base of engineers earlier in the design process will be a key part of our future growth. Lou will work across all of Avnet to identify and create opportunities which further leverage our capabilities and address the rapidly evolving landscape of IoT.”
Avnet continues to implement a strategy to fully capitalize on the high-growth potential of IoT.
“Avnet is in the driver’s seat of the Internet of Things,” said Lutostanski. “As one of the world’s largest technology distributors, Avnet is in a unique position to overcome issues of scale and time-to-market pressures faced by our customers. We will invest in reference designs and high ROI integrated solutions across the device, gateway, network and cloud which take IoT to the next level. I look forward to this exciting new role, and I am committed to supporting our customers through every stage of the IoT product lifecycle.”
Lutostanski’s appointment marks Avnet’s latest move to drive the future of IoT.
In October 2016, Avnet completed its acquisition of Premier Farnell’s element 14 community, a digital platform that includes 430,000 members in 36 countries. One month later, in November 2016, Avnet acquired Hackster.io – an online community that helps users across the globe learn how to design, create and program Internet-connected hardware. These efforts and others have expanded Avnet’s reach to include large, new audiences of engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs. In addition, Avnet continues to partner with companies like AT&T and IBM (News - Alert) to maximize its development of IoT solutions.
Lutostanski joined Avnet nearly 30 years ago as a system sales manager. During the next 13 years, he gained increasing responsibility as a field applications engineer, sales manager, branch manager, and vice president and area director. Lutostanski later joined Motorola (News - Alert) where he served as vice president of global sales for the HP account, then the Motorola account, and on to vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas. Since his return to Avnet in 2013, Lutostanski has served as vice president of electronic component sales for the Americas and vice president of demand creation for the Americas. Lutostanski graduated from Purdue University (News - Alert) with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and an MBA from Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville.