Staff ReportVERO BEACH – John Becker, who rose through the ranks in a 20-year career at Piper Aircraft, is leaving just six months after accepting his new role as President, a company employee confirmed Monday.Becker was named President as part of a management shakeup when CEO Jim Bass left the company in June. In a statement posted on the employee bulletin board, Becker was quoted saying he was leaving to pursue other opportunities. His resignation is effective Dec. 2. Becker joined Piper in 1989 and he held various positions of increasing responsibility in his 20 years with the company. He was working as Vice President of Engineering leading the team responsible for the design and development of the PiperJet when he was tapped to become President. He was named President along with the promotion of Kevin Gould to CEO when Bass left the company months after it was purchased by Imprimis, a Singapore-based investment company, which purchased Piper with money from the government of Brunei. Becker and Gould were given the mandate by Imprimis “to continue building and expanding Piper’s market position” a press release at the time stated. The news comes a week after Piper announced it was delaying rolling out its PiperJet until at least 2013 as the company struggles to stay competitive during the worldwide economic slump. Piper has reduced its workforce to around around 700 and instituted furloughs of one week a month through the end of 2009.At the same time, the company has also announced an increase in plane sales in 2010 over 2009, in part as they begin to break in to the Asian market.
