Western Digital appoints John Coyne as Executive Vice President of worldwide operations

Coyne has been working with WD for more than 20 years in various senior manufacturing and operations management positions, helping the company establish its leadership position in the hard drive industry in high-volume markets.

For the past few years, Coyne has served as Senior Vice President, worldwide operations, with responsibility for hard drive manufacturing. Coyne now assumes additional responsibility for business operations, materials and magnetic head operations. He reports to Arif Shakeel, President and Chief Operating Officer of WD.

"John Coyne has been and continues to be a major contributor to WD's success," said Shakeel. "His new position reflects the depth of our management team as we grow the business and address multiple new markets. John's energetic leadership and dedication have been instrumental in enabling WD to establish itself as a worldwide leader in the dynamic and demanding hard drive industry."

Coyne joined WD in 1983 to start the company's Printer Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) operations in his native Ireland. Based in Malaysia since 1997, he led the teams that developed WD's successful low-cost approach to hard drive manufacturing, the expansion of the company's drive operations into Thailand in 2002 and the acquisition and integration of magnetic head back-end operations in Thailand in 2003.

Throughout more than three decades in the electronics industry, he has held positions involving engineering, manufacturing, materials, marketing and general management. Coyne received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from University College Dublin.