National Technical Systems Bolsters Companywide Innovation Initiative With Appointment of CTO Osman Sakr to Expanded Leadership Role

CALABASAS, Calif., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that Chief Technology Officer Osman Sakr has been given an expanded leadership role in technology development in support of the Company's strategic, companywide Innovation Growth Program.  Sakr, a 30-year veteran of high technology product development and implementation, will report directly to Douglas Briskie, Senior Vice President and Development Officer, who is leading the innovation initiative.

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The Innovation Growth Program is one of several key companywide initiatives launched within the past 12 months targeted at furthering the Company's capabilities and geographic reach and aimed at driving growth, said CEO William McGinnis. The overall plan is to develop closer relationships with the Company's global customer base and become the supplier of choice for a broader range of services, McGinnis said.

"We continue to invest significant time, energy and resources into creating an expanded, more comprehensive set of capabilities at NTS," McGinnis said. "Our new initiatives, which include the Innovation Growth Program, also involve an acquisition strategy designed to increase our capabilities, expand our geographic footprint and provide top talent for all levels of our organization. We want our customers and our potential customers to see that we are a more innovative and more comprehensive company, and that we are focused on outpacing our competition and becoming the customers' vendor of choice."

The innovation strategy involves development and implementation around new services, new locations and emerging technology markets to convert new ideas into value for customers.  Examples of recent promising capabilities currently being launched as a result of recent innovation efforts are high intensity radiated field (HIRF) testing, solar loading testing and enhancements of pyro shock testing for the aerospace and defense markets. Another example is thermal modeling, simulation and test (TMST), a certification program for the telecom industry to procure more energy efficient network equipment. Business plans forged last year under the innovation program have resulted in an expansion of offerings and market coverage of the Silicon Valley, CA and Plano, TX operations for the Aerospace and Telecom sectors.  Innovation projects currently under evaluation in the active development cycle include, for instance, additional service offerings for the Alternative Energy market segments, further expansion into Asia, and adding new capabilities for space launch vehicles.

The Innovation Growth Program was initially created to promote innovation within NTS, expand the Company's capabilities and services and to position NTS as a leader in strategic product and market development, Briskie said.

"NTS has always been an innovative company, but we now are much more focused and more strategic," Briskie said. "In the past, our innovation successes resulted from random ad hoc efforts.  Now it is a formalized process focused on a market driven strategy. We manage our innovation projects as a portfolio of competing opportunities along the short-, mid-, and long-term time horizons. We work to balance the creative entrepreneurial energy and value creation.  This means lots of market research, formal business plans and financial analysis.  We are far along in developing an internal innovation ecosystem to drive organic growth for NTS through innovation, in terms of product development and market development."

Earlier this year Briskie recruited and appointed Michael Bell as Director of Innovation, a brand new position for NTS.  Bell also reports to Briskie.

"Mike brings us a wealth of experience in product development, including skills in areas such as market research, business planning, financial modeling and analysis, and advanced quantitative methods," Briskie said. "His experience is complemented by his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Business Administration with dual majors in Finance and Strategy and Entrepreneurship."

Briskie added that the innovation initiative "is a natural path for Osman.  He has a knack for discovering business opportunities within emerging technologies and then driving the development of new services to support those technologies."

Sakr has been the CTO at NTS since 2004 and has focused on the high technology market, the development of test tools and engineering services for the telecom market, wireless technologies including sensor automation, SMART energy, information technologies and consumer electronics products, among other areas.

Prior to joining NTS in 2000, Sakr was Vice President of Engineering at Los Angeles-based Network Design Group. Before that he was Director of Test Engineering and Development for Sunnyvale, CA-based Amdahl Corporation at its Communication System Division.

Sakr has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Northrop University. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and participates in the Computing Working Group of the Association of Computer Society and the Standard Association covering Wireless Technologies.

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering and testing services to the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full life-cycle product integrity support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.ntscorp.com or call 800-270-2516.

Forward Looking Statements

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, including the possibility of contract cancellations, demand for services and products, development of markets for the companies' services and products and other risks identified in the companies' SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The companies undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National Technical Systems' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

SOURCE National Technical Systems, Inc.