Satellite Technology Elects Chairman : Management: Dennis W. Elliott, a director since ‘85, succeeds Frank T. Connors, who will stay on the board.

COSTA MESA —  Satellite Technology Management Inc. announced Monday that Dennis W. Elliott, a member of the company’s board of directors since 1985, has been elected chairman.

Elliott, 52, succeeds Frank T. Connors, 59, who will continue as one of five directors of the Costa Mesa manufacturer of satellite and radio products.

“Dennis will take more responsibility for the day-to-day operations and spend more time here,” said Stephen Strohman, senior vice president. The management change has been in the works for some time, he said, because Connors wants to devote more time to Document Imaging Systems Corp., a Northern California company of which he is chairman. Document Imaging Systems manufactures optical computer storage systems.

The management change is not directly related, Satellite Technology said, to its very public battle earlier this year with the U.S. Department of Commerce, which in May prohibited the company from shipping a communications system to Iran. Since then, the company has shipped products to Brazil and Ecuador but not to Iran, said Daniel Saks, a company spokesman.

Satellite Technology manufactures communications products that are installed in North America, Latin America, Europe and the Far East.

Elliott is president of Elliott Communications Co., a Washington-area consulting company. Strohman said he hopes that Elliott, because of his proximity to the nation’s capital and experience there, can improve Satellite Technology’s relationship with various government agencies.

Before forming Elliott Communications in 1990, Elliott was president of Pacific Telecom Cable and National Gateway Telecom, both subsidiaries of Pacific Telecom Inc. From 1976 to 1984, he was vice president of RCA American Communications Inc., a satellite service operator.

An analyst who follows Satellite Technology said Monday that the company’s future is uncertain.

“With all the problems they’ve had with the Commerce Department this year, I’m just watching from a distance, kind of waiting for the dust to settle with this company,” said Brad Perry, an analyst and president of Brad Perry Investments in Mill Valley, Calif.

In Monday’s Nasdaq trading, Satellite Technologies’ stock was down 37.5 cents a share, closing at $7.375.