Garmin, Ltd. appointed Patrick Desbois and Brad Trenkle in newly created roles as co-chief operating officers (Co-COO), effective July 1, 2024. Desbois had been Garmin’s EVP of operations, while Trenkle led the company’s outdoor segment.
Desbois, in his new role, is responsible for executive oversight of Garmin’s aviation and auto OEM segments, global supply chain and operations, information technology, and human resources. Trenkle will lead Garmin’s consumer business segments, engineering innovation and support, global consumer sales, marketing, and creative. Both Desbois and Trenkle will report to Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and CEO, who will focus on the long-term growth strategies, business and organizational development, and the finance and legal functions of the company.
Desbois joined Garmin as vice president and executive officer in 2011. He was promoted to executive vice president of operations in 2017 and has been responsible for global oversight of operations, communications and consumer marketing, including human resource management and information technology. Before Garmin, Desbois was a senior director of engineering at Dell Computers, where he worked for ten years, including two years on an expat assignment in Taiwan.
Since joining Garmin in 2002 as a software engineer, Trenkle has reportedly contributed to developing “many product lines, particularly in Garmin’s outdoor segment.” He has served in various leadership roles, including engineering management and providing leadership for some of Garmin’s “most consequential acquisitions.” In 2017, Garmin promoted Trenkle to vice president of its outdoor segment.
“Garmin is a unique company with significant operational scale that serves a diverse set of markets. We have leveraged growth opportunities that shaped us into the company we are today, and we have an amazing team of over 20,000 associates around the world who are dedicated to serving customers with highly differentiated products. We also believe that there are many more opportunities that lie ahead. I’m excited to have Patrick Desbois and Brad Trenkle expand their executive leadership responsibilities as Co-COOs to help me lead Garmin to a bright and successful future,” said Pemble.
Images courtesy Garmin, shown top right Patrick Desbois, bottom left, Brad Trenkle
