Itronix Corp., of Spokane, has named a new chief executive officer to succeed Steve Gevurtz, who stepped down earlier this year.


The new CEO, David C. Dayton, a 28-year veteran of the electronics industry, joined 6-year-old Itronix late last month. Gevurtz, one of the founding officers of Itronix, remains on the companys board and continues to work with its key customers and business partners as a consultant. He said earlier that he stepped down to spend more time with his family and to pursue other interests.


Itronix makes rugged, hand-held computers for field-service technicians. The company has grown rapidly since it was spun off in 1992 by Itron Inc., the Spokane maker of utility meter-reading equipment. Dayton says Itronix expects to build on its success in equipping large utility, telecommunications, insurance, and other companies with field-service employees.


Dayton most recently was CEO and president of a $4 million software and services company called Cantoc Business Systems, which is headquartered just outside Toronto, Ontario.


Prior to that, Dayton worked for six years, two as CEO, for a $50 million, private software firm in Rhode Island called Cadre Technologies.


Dayton spent the first 21 years of his career with Hewlett-Packard Co., the big Palo Alto, Calif.-based manufacturer. When he left H-P in 1991, he was general manager of its logic systems division, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Itronix says.


Itronix employs about 350 people full time, but its work force often swells to more than 400 as it hires temporary employees when orders are brisk. Earlier this year, the company eliminated 19 full-time positions and chose not to renew the contracts of 40 temporary workers.