Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft selects former Tesla executive to become CEO

Zean Nielsen, a former Tesla executive, is the new CEO of Cirrus Aircraft, the Duluth-based maker of single-engine airplanes.

Nielsen takes over for Dale Klapmeier, who announced in December he would step down midyear. Klapmeier co-founded the company in 1986 with his brother, Alan, in a Wisconsin barn.

Cirrus now employs more than 1,100 people, mainly in Duluth, Grand Forks, N.D., and Knoxville, Tenn., and the brothers are in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Nielsen, who was traveling this week, said in a statement his goal is to continue bringing "game-changing" products and services to market.

"Our mission is to deliver an aviation experience that is the pinnacle of innovation, quality and safety to our customers — and that is exactly what we will continue to do for many years to come," he said.

Nielsen was most recently executive vice president of North American sales for James Hardie, the industrial building-materials company based in Ireland, with operations in California and Chicago. Before that he was vice president of global sales operations for Tesla Motors.

Klapmeier, who will move to a senior advisory role, said Nielsen was the right person "to lead us into the next era of growth."

The company's sales were up to 380 aircraft in 2018, 7% over the year before, according to Cirrus.

In 2016, Cirrus introduced what it said was the first single-engine personal jet, the SF50 Vision. The jets expanded Cirrus' product reach beyond propeller planes.

The company opened a $12.7 million finishing plant in Duluth in 2016, and has now sold more than 105 of its new Vision Jet SF50.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded and recalled the jets in April after Cirrus and regulators cited problems with a sensor that was similar to those found in the Boeing 737 Max models that crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia. The FAA's emergency directive in April noted three incidents on Cirrus' SF50 jets in which protective systems engaged when they were not supposed to.

Cirrus spokesman Ben Kowalski said at the time that pilots were immediately able to override the jet's stall warning and protection systems by pressing one red button, so problems were avoided. The supplier of the problematic AOA sensor, he said, had corrected the problem and was distributing the updated products to Cirrus and other affected customers.

Nielsen began his career at the Danish-owned, luxury headphone maker Bang & Olufsen in 1997. There he spent 17 years rising up the ranks to become president of its North and South America units before leaving to join Tesla Motors.