Michael Stolarz has been named Vice President of Business Development at Breeze-Eastern Corporation (NYSE MKT: BZC), the aerospace industry’s only dedicated hoist and winch specialist. Stolarz is a seasoned business development professional with experience in defense and commercial industries. Stolarz served in the U.S. Marine Corps and most recently was a Vice President at HDT Global.

Stolarz will be responsible for leading the expansion of market share and product offerings, and for all aspects of company marketing.  “Mike has consistently shown the ability to effectively convert strategy into action,” said Brad Pedersen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Breeze-Eastern. “He is extremely adept at opening new markets and thinking beyond the status quo.”

Stolarz joined the company earlier this month and reports directly to Pedersen. Pedersen said Stolarz and the Business Development organization will focus on building relationships with new customers and advancing Breeze-Eastern’s position as an innovator in hoist and winch products and service. As part of this ongoing focus on leadership and innovation, Business Development will be based at the company’s new Virginia Innovation Center, where Stolarz, Vice President of Product Development Brad Repp, and their teams, will collaborate to anticipate and solve operator challenges with next-generation products like the MissionView™ Situational Awareness System, an advanced rescue system that the company expects to introduce next year.

Pedersen added that the Virginia Innovation Center will be the company’s creative hub and a new technology incubator where forward-thinking teams continually work to solve customer challenges, improve mission safety and effectiveness, and lead the industry in determining what’s next for hoist and winch technology.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining the Breeze-Eastern team,” Stolarz said. “We are applying innovative ideas and practices to every area of the business, and are actively driving fundamentally important changes. Our business development initiatives will reflect that, too.”

Breeze-Eastern Corporation is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance lifting and pulling devices for helicopters, military cargo aircraft, and other aerospace/defense platforms, including rescue hoists, winches and cargo hooks, and weapons-lifting systems.