Lighting manufacturer High End Systems has announced two recent appointments at its Austin, TX-based headquarters. Peter Duff has been appointed chief financial officer of the company, while Deanna Parnell has been promoted to controller.
Duff has held a number of CFO positions with Pfizer and Hanson and lately the electronics company International Flex Technologies. He attended the Liverpool City Institute in England before graduating at Bradford University with a business degree. Following training with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London and becoming a chartered accountant of the UK, he immigrated to Canada.
Duff was CFO of Pfizer Canada and transferred to Pfizer's corporate headquarters in New York in the mid-1980s. What followed was a 10-year stint with Hanson Plc and a number of CFO assignments. In 1999, Duff left Hanson to establish International Flex Technologies, an electronics company started from scratch to run a spin-off business purchased from IBM. Duff and his wife relocated from Binghamton, NY, to Austin.
Says CEO Frank Gordon, "After several months as acting CFO at High End, it's a real pleasure to have Peter as fulltime CFO. He brings a wealth of business experience and communication skills to the financial reporting team at High End. He's personal, bright and more than just a bean counter. He gets the picture very quickly."
Parnell, a four-year veteran of High End, served as staff accountant and accounting manager before being named to the new position. Both as accounting manager and now as controller, she has responsibility for all accounting and finance functions, reporting directly to Duff.
"I couldn't be more pleased with the department's organization and performance," says Duff. "They are a very responsive and capable group, and Deanna's strong leadership has influenced this. In my short tenure with HES, I can see what she has accomplished under some rather difficult circumstances. The company is now well positioned to take advantage of improving business conditions. Deanna's skills in supporting growth of the company's profitability will be even more valuable in the coming months. I am delighted to have inherited such a fine professional."
Prior to joining HES, Parnell worked for Siemens Business Communication Systems in cost accounting and budget preparation. She is a licensed CPA and earned an accounting degree from the University of Texas.