New faces in this gallery: Jack Carlson, executive V.P. and president, North American Business, Southwire, was named chairman of the Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA). Alex Orr was named V.P. of sales for induction lighting manufacturer Everlast Lighting. Michael DeVoney is now president of Turtle & Hughes Integrated Supply (THIS). David Delgado is now manager of lighting application and certification at MaxLite. Stu Thorne, CEO of Southwire, was named the Copper Club’s Copper Man of the Year and the 2014 recipient of the club’s coveted Ankh Award.
Others On the Move
Industry Data Exchange Association Inc. (IDEA) (Rosslyn, Va.): The association announced its 2014-2015 Board of Directors, which includes eight voting directors and two non-voting observers appointed by the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). The Board elected Jack Carlson, executive V.P. and president, North American Business, Southwire, as chairman and Wes Smith, president, Mayer Electric Supply, as vice chairman. Carlson previously served on the IDEA Board as a voting director in 2012 and 2013.
The 2014-2015 IDEA Officers are: Chairman - Jack Carlson, Southwire; Vice Chairman - Wes Smith, president, Mayer Electric Supply; Treasurer - David Rosenstein, president & CEO, Connexion; Secretary - Ted Crandall, senior V.P. & CFO, Rockwell Automation; NAED-Appointed Board Members - Phil Hale, CIO, Elliott Electric Supply; David Rosenstein, Connexion; Bob Siegel, V.P. of investment & inventory management, Graybar; Wes Smith, Mayer Electric Supply; NEMA-Appointed Board Members - Jack Carlson, Southwire; Ted Crandall, Rockwell Automation; Chris Curtis, senior advisor, Schneider Electric; and Tom Gross, vice chairman & COO, Eaton Corp. Bethany Sullivan was selected as the NAED observer and Don Leavens, V.P. and chief economist, NEMA, was selected as the NEMA observer.
Graybar Electric (St. Louis): The company announced several changes to its leadership team and board of directors. Richard Cole, Chicago district V.P. and a member of Graybar’s board of directors, will retire Oct. 1, 2014, after 42 years with the company. He will also step down from his role as a director at that time.
William Mansfield has been elected to the board and was appointed senior V.P., sales and marketing, effective Apr. 1. Mansfield has worked for Graybar for more than 26 years and currently serves as vice president, marketing. Steven Stone has been appointed to take Cole’s place as district V.P. in Chicago, effective Oct. 1. Stone currently serves as vice president, sales at Graybar’s corporate headquarters and has been with the company for more than 15 years.
Thomas Pratt has been named district V.P. in Minneapolis, effective July 1. Pratt will replace G. William Keller, who will be retiring after 40 years with the company. Pratt is a 24-year Graybar veteran who currently serves as director, electrical sales, in the company’s Chicago district.
Turtle & Hughes (Linden, N.J): Michael DeVoney is now president of Turtle & Hughes Integrated Supply (THIS), a division of Turtle & Hughes Inc. He succeeds Jay Drummond, who retired after 20 years of leadership. THIS, based in Hamden, Conn., partners with customers for total cost reductions by streamlining elements of their supply chain. It has implemented procurement services, storeroom management and inventory control systems for Fortune 500 companies throughout North America.
DeVoney, a 35-year industry veteran, joined THIS in Nov. 2012 as executive V.P. and was soon named to the Turtle & Hughes executive committee. Before joining Turtle & Hughes, he spent three years as the business development leader for a national utility distribution company. His previous experience also includes eight years as a supply chain consultant, assisting primarily investor-owned utilities, and 14 years working for both distributors and manufacturers. Initially, he spent time in electrical and general contracting construction management. DeVoney received his MBA from the University of Houston, and an undergraduate degree in economics from Emory University.
Southwire (Carrollton, Ga.): Stu Thorn, president and CEO, was named as the Copper Club’s Copper Man of the Year and as the 2014 recipient of the club’s coveted Ankh Award. First presented in 1962, the club’s highest honor recognizes outstanding achievement and contributions to the copper industry. Southwire founder Roy Richards, Sr., received the award in 1984.
MaxLite (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.): To meet the increased demand for specification projects and new products from distributors and other industry professionals, MaxLite has created a lighting application and certification department at its MaxLite West facility in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and has appointed David Delgado as manager, lighting application and certification department. For the past two years, Delgado served as lighting application specialist. He reports to Thomas Rhee, executive vice president.
With nearly 30 years of lighting industry and application expertise, Delgado also served as sales manager for ATG Electronics, technical support and lighting applications engineer/warranty service manager for Nora Lighting, and a variety of technical support and application positions for California Lighting Sales, Total Lighting Concepts, Hydrel Lighting and Kim Lighting.
In other news at MaxLite, the company is bolstering its West Coast customer support with the appointment of Jay Lee to the newly created position of general manager, Western office, and Fred Kim to warehouse manager at the Rancho Cucamonga facility. Lee reports to Todd Kim general manager of the West Caldwell, N.J., facility, and Fred Kim reports to Lee, who served as operation warehouse manager of the western facility since 2007. Prior to MaxLite, Lee was operation manager for National Monitoring Center (NMC), a third-party monitoring and alarm dispatch company. Kim was promoted as Lee’s successor in the role of warehouse manager at the Rancho Cucamonga location.
Everlast Lighting (Jackson, Miss.): Alex Orr was appointed V.P. of sales of this manufacturer of induction lighting’s commercial sales department. In his new role, Orr will continue to oversee the sales department along with representative and distribution channels. He joined Everlast Lighting in 2009 and in 2010 immediately transitioned to regional management, working cooperatively with representative firms and distributors along the East Coast. In mid-2013, Orr left EverLast for ABM Building Solutions in Detroit, and in January of this year he returned to EverLast and was appointed to the new position. He graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree from Defiance College in business and a minor in economics.
Springfield Electric Supply Co. (Springfield, Ill.): The company made several key organizational changes. Drew McMinn has accepted the position of regional V.P. and will oversee all aspects of the business for the five locations assigned to the company’s Region One, which includes their Bloomington, Champaign, Danville, Peru and Rockford branches. Don Harrod has accepted the position of branch manager for both the Quincy and Hannibal branch locations. He will assume his new role effective May 1, the same month tentatively scheduled for the Quincy facility to move to its new location at 2009 Jennifer Lane, Quincy, Ill. Harrod currently leads the company’s Conserve - Energy Solutions Team.
Gary Huwe has accepted the position of strategic business manager. He will manage all aspects of the Strategic Business Unit as well as supporting the team leaders in key supplier management. Kris Kincaid has accepted the position of branch manager, Mattoon, Ill. Kincaid will transition from his current role as branch manager, Danville to his new responsibilities in early April. He will manage the day-to-day operations and lead all sales and marketing efforts in the Mattoon marketplace. Dan Lewis will add the management responsibilities of the Danville branch to his current role as branch manager of Champaign. Lewis will coordinate all operations, sales and marketing for both branches.
March...
Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.): David Juday has retired as chairman of the company’s board of directors as part of a planned succession program. He has worked for the company since 1972, most notably as its chairman since 1984, and will continue as a director on its board. Jim James, the company’s current CEO and vice chairman, has been appointed chairman of the board.
Ideal said in a press release that under Juday’s oversight the company evolved from a regional manufacturer primarily known for its Wire-Nut wire connectors to a more diversified maker of contractor-grade tools, testers and supplies used by electricians, data communications installers and industrial maintenance professionals. Ideal now has international distribution that reaches across five continents and a product portfolio that numbers more than 6,000 SKUs.
Along with driving organic growth, Juday was instrumental in an aggressive acquisition strategy that in the past decade has brought into the IDEAL fold several companies including Anderson Power Products, Casella Measurement, SK Hand Tool, Western Forge, Pratt-Read, and Trend Communications.
Juday is the grandson of J. Walter Becker, who founded Ideal Industries in 1916. He followed his father, Eugene “Tug” Juday, who preceded him as chairman, into the family business. During a career spanning more than four decades, he gained insight into many facets of the Ideal organization by taking management or support positions in manufacturing, information technology, sales, and marketing. Today, his daughter, Meghan Juday, is chair of the Ideal Family Council and a director on the company’s board of directors.
HellermannTyton (Milwaukee): Jason Hill has been promoted to national sales manager – Electrical Wholesaling. Hill will lead a team of area sales managers focused on electrical distribution. During Hill’s 13-year career with HellermannTyton, he has taken on increasing responsibility, gaining expertise in the datacom and electrical markets. He has a BA in electrical engineering from Purdue University.
Electro-Mechanical Corp./Federal Pacific/Line Power (Bristol, Va.): Chris Behrikis has joined the company as sales manager, Low Voltage Transformers and is now responsible for all low-voltage transformers manufactured and sold under the Federal Pacific and Line Power brand names of Electro-Mechanical Corp. He will report to Gary Stachelski, V.P. sales and marketing, EMC. Behrikis has more than 20 years of electrical and industrial industry experience working with manufacturers agents, engineers and distributors within the electrical, C/I industry, most recently as a regional manager with Dialight Corp.
American Dryer (Livonia, Mich.): Andy Karl was recently hired as sales manager to oversee the launch of the company’s new, patent-pending Cold Plasma Clean (CPC) technology used in its line of eXtremeAir dryers, which kill germs and clean hands. After graduating from Western Michigan University, Karl worked at Ken-Mac Metals in Detroit.
DISC Corp. (Orange, Conn.): Gil Isenstein is now vice president of operations for the company his father, Herm Isenstein, founded in 1985. He has nearly 20 years in marketing and corporate communications for both Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups, including Fidelity Investments, General Motors, Stanley Security Solutions, Sprint and LendingTree. At DISC he will develop and execute marketing and sales strategies to expand the company’s distributor and manufacturer client base, identify opportunities to enhance existing client programs as well as oversee marketing, advertising and promotional planning.
Orbit Industries (Los Angeles): Marcus Bannerman will oversee Eastern regional sales and Jerry Kehoe will handle Western regional sales. Kehoe has more than 25 years of experience in the industry and recently worked with Gardner Bender as a regional manager. He also worked with Broan as Western sales manager. Bannerman has spent more than 30 years working with contractors and end users in the electrical industry, and owned local electrical distributorships in California.
Fromm Electric Supply (Reading, Pa.): Trevor Martin has been hired as vice president of operations and Cherie Terrey as human resources manager. Martin has over 17 years of operations leadership experience in various distribution industries and will oversee all aspects of Fromm Electric’s warehousing, transportation and logistics operations. Terrey brings over 15 years of HR experience in various industries, including wholesale distribution and manufacturing, with specialization in benefits administration and succession planning. She has a BA in secondary education/mathematics and an MBA from Kutztown University.
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) (Washington, D.C.): Dan Blaylock, president of Adams-Burch Inc., Landover, Md., was elected chairman of the NAW Board of Directors. Blaylock succeeds Patrick Larmon, president and CEO of Bunzl Distribution USA Inc., St. Louis. He will remain active on the NAW Board as immediate past chairman. Other NAW officers elected at the meeting include: Chairman-elect – Manuel Perez de la Mesa, POOLCORP, Covington, La.; First vice-chairman – Richard Schwartz, WinWholesale Inc., Dayton, Ohio; Second vice-chairman – John Tracy, Dot Foods Inc., Chesterfield, Mo.; Secretary – Joseph Nettemeyer, Valin Corp., San Jose, Calif.; and Dirk Van Dongen, NAW.
Wago Corp. (Germantown, Wis.): Steve Greene is now North Central Zone Manager for Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. He joins WAGO after previous positions with Lenze Americas Corp. and Graybar Electric.