Edco appoints aero expert Paul Lew as CEO

Paul Lew has taken over as head of Edco. Lew was one of the first to identify the performance gains available from deep section aero wheels, in place of the box section wheels which were prevalent before the mid-1990s.

Working in wheel aerodynamics and carbon component development since 1989, Lew developed the first commercial carbon clincher wheelset in 1998 and launched the all-carbon PRO VT-1 wheel in the 2000s via his company Lew Composites. He went on to work with Reynolds wheels as director of technology and innovation on their aero deep section wheels and has also worked with Shimano on development of their carbon wheel range.

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Lew continues to work in a broad range of roles related to composites, including on committees for the WFSGI (World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry)  and as an advisor to NASA.

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Originally a Swiss component company and founded in 1902, Edco was sold in 2007, becoming Netherlands-based. Last year, Lew took over as head of Edco’s US operations, building and servicing Edco products Stateside as well as working with the Dutch arm on the development of the global product line.

But Edco has always operated as a set of different companies which covered different global markets and the European operation, based in the Netherlands, has recently declared bankruptcy, after it was unable to pay its bills to a Chinese supplier, which also had a stake in the European operation.

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The US company remained solvent, however, and has now taken over the Edco brand. Now Edco will consolidate globally and operate as a single entity from its US base in Scottsdale, Arizona.