Ken Karklin has been promoted to chief operating officer at AeroVironment Inc. effective immediately, the company announced. Karklin has served as senior vice president of operations since December 2018 of the Simi Valley unmanned aircraft manufacturer. He joined the company in 2009 and has served in a variety of leadership roles with increasing responsibility since then. Chief Executive Wahid Nawabi said that Karklin has demonstrated an ability to lead key functions within the organization. “We look forward to his ongoing contributions to supporting our customers’ success, maintaining our market leadership and driving growth across our business,” Nawabi said in a statement. “With the support of Ken and our talented team, we continue to execute our strategy effectively, with a focus on producing long-term value for our stockholders.” Prior to joining AeroVironment, Karklin served in engineering leadership positions at Agilent Technologies, Hewlett Packard Co. and Intel Corp. Before his career in technology, Karklin served in the United States Army and Army Reserves in enlisted, noncommissioned officer and commissioned officer capacities. The announcement of Karklin’s promotion was made on Tuesday. On Wednesday, shares in AeroVironment (AVAV) closed up $2.06, or almost 3 percent, to $73.64 on the Nasdaq, on a day when that market closed up 0.78 percent.