Leadership Team | CIRCOR International, Inc.

Mr. Najjar was named Chief Operating Officer and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 19, 2022, and President and Chief Executive Officer on August 10, 2022. He previously served as the President, Aerospace and Defense Group from February 2018 through January 2022. He served as Vice President, Aerospace and Defense in the Advance Flow Solutions Group from October 2016 to February 2018 and Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Aerospace and Defense Group, from April 2015 to October 2016. Before joining CIRCOR, Mr. Najjar served as Programs Manager, Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions at Rockwell Collins, a multinational manufacturing company, from October 2011 to April 2015. He has spent nearly 36 years in the aerospace and defense industry in engineering, sales, and general management roles, including leadership positions at Rockwell Collins and Kaiser Aerospace. Mr. Najjar holds both a bachelor's degree and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

AJ Sharma was named Senior Vice President, Business Development in 2016 and Interim CFO in December 2021. Mr. Sharma joined CIRCOR as Vice President, Business Development in 2009. Mr. Sharma oversees the company’s mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning functions. Prior to CIRCOR, Mr. Sharma served as managing director at Global Equity Partners, a venture capital and strategy consulting firm, where he was responsible for executing equity investments and, leading client engagements on acquisitions, divestitures and growth strategy. Prior to that, he was Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Textron Inc., a $13 billion multi-industry company with a global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses where he was responsible for developing the company’s M&A strategy and leading acquisition and divestiture transactions. Prior to Textron, Mr. Sharma held various positions of increasing responsibility at SPX Corporation, a Fortune 500 multi-industry company, culminating in his appointment as Director of Corporate Development. Sharma is a graduate of the six month PLD Program at Harvard Business School and holds a Master of Science degree in Finance from Drexel University and a Bachelor in Commerce from Delhi University.

Jessica Wenzell accepted an expanded role to include Chief People Officer (formerly called Chief Human Resources Officer) in November 2021. Jessica Wenzell joined CIRCOR as Senior Vice President and General Counsel in 2020 and has been serving as CIRCOR’s interim CHRO since May 2021. Prior to joining CIRCOR, Ms. Wenzell served in executive roles of increasing responsibility at GE for over 14 years. From 2017 to 2020 she was GE’s Executive Counsel – Strategic Transactions, leading cross-functional, legal entity carve-out activities for a multi-billion dollar divestiture pipeline. Her previous roles at GE included Executive Counsel – Indirect Sourcing & Properties (2017-2018); Executive Counsel – Chief Compliance Officer for GE Oil & Gas (2013-2017); and General Counsel for GE Measurement & Control (2010-2013). Ms. Wenzell began her career at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP in the Corporate & Securities Practice Group. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a minor in Japanese Studies from University of California, San Diego and her J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco.