Prima names North American president

Prima North America Inc., Champlin, Minn., the North American subsidiary of Prima Industrie S.p.A., Torino, Italy, has named Terry L. VanderWert as president. He replaces Paolo Cigna, who continues to serve on the company's board of directors.

VanderWert is responsible for all Prima North America businesses, including sales and service for 2-D and 3-D sheet metal CO2 laser cutting systems manufactured by Prima Industrie, multiaxis precision laser processing systems produced by Laserdyne Systems, and industrial lasers used by companies of the Prima Group.

Most recently, VanderWert served as Prima senior vice president and general manager. He has held several management positions within the company, including an 18-year career with Laserdyne. He was responsible for the introduction of the BeamDirector® 780, 790, and 890 systems, as well as the Laserdyne 450 system used for turbine blade and vane processing. Additionally, he served on product teams that established the BeamDirector products in the aerospace industry.

A licensed professional engineer who has held management positions in metallurgical research, VanderWert holds a master's degree in metallurgy and materials science from the University of Minnesota.