DeRoyal President and COO Announces Retirement

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., (February 15, 2016)—Bill Pittman, DeRoyal’s president and COO, has announced his plan to retire at the end of the first quarter of 2016, after a career spanning 32 years with the company. Pittman will take over the investment property portfolio that he and his father have developed under the brand Pittman Properties.

Pittman began his career as an account manager, relocating to Columbus, Ohio, where he became DeRoyal’s sales trainer and specialist in the territory. He returned home to the corporate office as a product manager focusing on new product development and went on to serve tenures in the marketing, OEM and orthopedic divisions as vice president, becoming the company’s president in 2009. In 2010, he was named president and COO.

Pittman’s prolific career includes spearheading the successful development and launch of hundreds of health care products, notably DeRoyal’s burn products, surgical accessories, laparoscopic accessories and Continuum, a medical device dispensing, billing and reordering system. He is also the holder of seven U.S. patents with others pending at the time of his retirement.

Most significantly, Pittman focused on expanding DeRoyal’s presence internationally, and under his leadership, the company now has sales in more than 70 countries.

“Being a part of DeRoyal during the last three-plus decades has been a life-shaping experience that I treasure,” said Pittman. “This company knows no boundaries, and what this team of talented and innovative people create every single day served as an inspiration to me. Even as we evolved to be a global company, we remained rooted right here in East Tennessee, and I am very proud of that. I have had the privilege of a successful and storied tenure, thanks to Pete DeBusk taking a chance on a kid from north Knoxville.”

“I have had the pleasure of working with Bill for more than 22 years and am very appreciative of the value he has brought DeRoyal across so many aspects of our business,” said DeRoyal’s CEO Brian DeBusk. “He will be missed both professionally and personally by the entire management team as he is an integral part of our past and has helped build the foundation for our future.”  

Pittman’s retirement will be effective April 1, 2016.

Vist deroyal.com for more information.