Picarro Strengthens Executive Team With Addition Of Technology Veteran Laura Perrone As CFO

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Picarro, the world's leading provider of instruments for carbon and water cycle measurements, announced today that Laura Perrone joined the company as Chief Financial Officer effective November 21. Perrone most recently served as the Senior Vice President and CFO of Omneon, a maker of technology products for digital media distribution, management and storage. Perrone helped lead Omneon from new market entrant to dominant market leader, driving revenue growth of over 50% on a five year compounded annual basis to $125 million, achieving 60% gross margins, profitability and positive cash flow.  As CFO, Perrone led numerous successful corporate initiatives across finance, information technology and human resources that collectively positioned the company for a successful $300 million acquisition in 2010 by Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT). Omneon was backed by Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Invesco, Meritech Intel, Sony and Lucent.  Prior to Omneon, Perrone held CFO roles at SaaS software and chip design companies Icarian (acquired by Workstream) and Rendition (acquired by Micron Technologies), respectively.

"Laura is a highly accomplished Silicon Valley financial executive, with a successful track record of building, leading and guiding technology companies through rapid growth and international expansion," says Picarro Chief Executive Officer Michael Woelk. "Laura's financial expertise and strategic talents will be tremendous assets as we continue to innovate and position our business to scale in new verticals and new applications."

Picarro's innovation driven approach has enabled the company to become the global gold standard for greenhouse gas instruments and the market leader in stable isotope instruments. "Picarro has an impressive record of commercializing incredibly innovative instruments used by leading researchers and scientists the world over," says Laura Perrone.  "I am excited to join the leadership team to help Picarro execute its rapid growth plans."  Picarro's products extend scientists' research capabilities to any location on Earth while radically simplifying scientific measurement processes with the highest precision levels achievable.

Picarro instruments are manufactured at the company's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters and are used by thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians in 54 countries and on all seven continents. Customers include leading research institutions ( Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the LSCE, Beijing University), leading government agencies (the China Meteorological Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the environmental protection agencies of the U.S., Germany, Canada, Ireland and Switzerland) and multi-national corporations (Eli Lilly, Waste Management Inc., Rio Tinto Alcan). Picarro has been recognized with numerous prestigious industry and business accolades including the Red Herring 100 Award for Technology Innovation in 2011 and selection as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum for 2012. Investors include Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, and DAG Ventures.

Contact: Sarvesh Jagannivas, Vice President of Marketing:   [e-mail] / 408-962-3923

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