Viking Systems names Zappas VP of U.S. Sales

Viking Systems (OTCBB:VKNG has appointed Andrew Zappas to the position of VP of U.S. Sales to assume direct responsibility for sales of Viking’s 3DHD Vision Systems product line in the U.S.  He will report to CEO Jed Kennedy.

Mr. Zappas most recently was a consultant to Viking in the restructuring of its U.S. sales operations. During the past four months, he was the architect of the changes announced by the company in September.

From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Zappas was president and CEO of the U.S. operations of Gyrus/ACMI, which represented over half of the company’s global sales. Gyrus, a minimally invasive surgical device company, was acquired by Olympus in 2008 for about $2 billion.

He also has held a variety of sales and sales management positions with medical device manufactures, including Baxter, Spacelabs, Cabot Medical, Circon/ACMI, and Gyrus Medical.

“Andy’s wide range of experience and his contacts with the medical distribution community will serve us well,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. “We are also mindful that his desire to join Viking after a thorough review as a consultant of both our product roadmap and our sales strategy is an added vote of confidence in the plan that we are executing.”