CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Ron Bills, president and CEO of Segway LLC, maker of the self-balancing two-wheeled machines of the same name, has resigned effective in mid-December.

Bills cited family reasons when informing the company this month of his departure. He declined interviews Wednesday.

An executive committee is running the firm and will continue to do so until a new top executive is selected, said marketing vice president Klee Kleber, a committee member. He predicted a search wouldn’t begin until next year.

Bills did not outline his future plans. Kleber said the company’s board and other executives were pleased with Bills’ performance and would likely seek a new CEO with at least a somewhat similar background.

“The things that Ron added to the business over the last year have been very, very good,” Kleber said.

Bills spent a year with the Bedford-based company, reshaping its marketing strategy by drawing on more than a decade of work with companies like Bombardier, Yamaha and Polaris.

Segways suffered disappointing sales in their first two years on the consumer market. The machines were unveiled in December 2001. But a September 2003 recall revealed only about 6,000 had sold.