Cipher Data Products named President Gary Liebl...

Cipher Data Products named President Gary Liebl as its new chairman and reported higher third-quarter earnings on flat sales.

Liebl has been with Cipher Data as president since October, 1985, and was named chief executive in January, 1987, when former chairman and chief executive Don Muller gave up day-to-day control of the company. Muller’s resignation last week as chairman prompted Liebl’s election as his successor.

Before joining Cipher Data, Liebl held executive posts with McDonnell Douglas and MSI Data Corp. He sits on the board of directors of Systech Corp. in San Diego. Cipher Data manufactures a line of streaming tape drives and optical disk drives, which are computer data storage devices.

For the quarter ended March 31, Cipher Data reported a profit of $2.5 million, nearly double the $1.3-million profit reported for the corresponding quarter last year. Revenues were $44.7 million, off slightly from the $45.9 million posted for the same quarter last year.

For the nine months to date, Cipher Data’s profit stands at $5.4 million on revenue of $129.5 million, compared with a profit of $3.3 million on revenue of $136 million for the same three quarters last year.