Michael Townsend was hired as the new president of Polytec Inc., a precision measurement company located in Tustin, CA. Townsend plans to continue expansion efforts in North America. The company provides laser-based measurement solutions for industrial, medical, automotive and aerospace markets. Townsend was previously president and CEO of Dover Instruments Co., and also held the position of vice president of sales and marketing there. He has held a number of engineering and sales positions at Zygo Corp., Carl Zeiss Inc. and Keyence Corp.