Advance, a division of Philips Electronics North America (Little Rosemont, Ill.): Pieter de Haan has been appointed chief executive officer. De Haan succeeds retiring CEO Brian Dundon. De Haan brings an extensive background in the lighting arena to the position. Since joining the Philips Lighting organization in 1982, de Haan has held successive roles throughout Philips Lighting in Europe and Asia and has amassed over 25 years of experience in manufacturing, supply, marketing, sales and general management. Prior to his appointment to CEO of Advance, de Haan served as CEO of Philips Lighting East Asia, based in Shanghai, China. Dundon was CEO of Advance from 2002 to 2007.
General Cable Corp. (Highland Heights, Ky.): The board of directors of the company has elected Brian J. Robinson to the post of executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Robinson will continue to report to Gregory B. Kenny, president and chief executive officer of General Cable. Robinson has held the title of senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer since January 2007. Robinson became controller for General Cable in 2000 and assumed the additional responsibility of senior vice president and treasurer in March 2006. He began his career at Deloitte & Touche LLP in 1991, and in 1997 moved from Cincinnati to London, England, where he served as audit manager focused on accounting services for global companies. In 1999, Robinson joined General Cable as assistant controller.
Greenlee, a Textron Co. (Rockford, Ill.): Tim VanDeraa recently rejoined the company in the professional tool category as the director of North American sales — Electrical Distribution. VanDeraa will be responsible for directing the sales effort and achieving the business goals of the Greenlee electrical distribution sales organization. His direct reports will be the regional sales managers and the electrical distribution associated national account managers. VanDeraa returns to Greenlee from Rayovac Corp. where he was national sales manager/director of the Electrical-Industrial Group in Madison, Wis. Previously, he was territory manager for Greenlee's Central region and progressed to the level of national accounts manager in 2002.
Intermatic Inc. (Spring Grove, Ill.): Jon Ginsberg has been promoted to director of marketing for the Industrial Strategic Business Unit. Ginsberg will lead the industrial marketing managers and the marketing services team in new product, promotion and service development for the company's distribution-based customers and contractor end-users. In his role, Ginsberg will also lead the development of strategic marketing plans for the Industrial Business Unit. He joined Intermatic in 2003 and has been serving as marketing manager for the company's Weatherproof and Professional Lighting product lines.
Ideal Industries Inc. (Sycamore, Ill.): Robert N. Lane, president and chief executive officer, is retiring from the company as part of an arranged succession strategy. Dave Juday, Ideal's chairman of the board, will assume CEO responsibilities until an ongoing search process for a new CEO is finalized. Lane joined Ideal in 1997 as president before being named CEO in 2000. He is credited with spearheading several acquisitions for Ideal, both domestically and internationally, including Anderson Power Products (2000), WaveTek (2001), Casella Measurement (2006), Trend Communications (2004) and the SureTest testing line (2000). Lane helped to reduce redundancy throughout the enterprise and strengthened Ideal's goal of individual divisions operated as stand-alone business units. Lane came to Ideal from Ready Metal Industries, a Chicago manufacturer of retail displays, where he served as CEO.
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW, Washington, D.C.): Chip Hornsby, group chief executive, Wolseley PLC, Theale, England, has been elected chairman of the NAW board of directors by members of the association. Hornsby succeeds Raymon York, CEO, Ewing Irrigation Products, Phoenix. York will remain active on the NAW board as immediate past chairman.
Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions (Burlington, Mass.): The new entity formed by Philips' acquisition of Color Kinetics promoted Keith Gillum to director of sales, West region. In this role, he will oversee the direct sales team and network of manufacturer's representatives, dealers and distributors in the western region of North America. Gillum previously served as director of entertainment sales, during which time he managed the company's sales programs for entertainment dealer and rental companies. Gillum joined Color Kinetics in 2004 and has worked on many high-profile projects during his tenure, including the Hollywood Bowl, the set of “Deal or No Deal,” the LAX Gateway at Los Angeles International Airport, and Super Bowls XLI and XLII. His prior industry experience includes senior sales roles at Osram and Strand Lighting.
Staco Energy Products Co. (Dayton, Ohio): Chuck Peck has joined the company as quality assurance manager. In his new role, Peck will oversee all quality control functions, including ISO 9001 initiatives and continuous improvement activities. Prior to joining Staco, Peck worked for companies including Siemens Energy & Automation and Emerson Electric. Most recently he was director of quality and productivity at Dover Corp., OPW Engineered Systems, in Cincinnati.
Border States (Fargo, N.D.): Tammy Miller, chief executive officer of Border States, has been invited to serve on the board of directors for Affiliated Distributors (A-D), King of Prussia, Pa. Miller will begin her term in May. Border States has been a member of A-D since the mid-1980s. A-D is the largest wholesale buying and marketing group in North America comprised of over 370 independent distributor companies with more than 3,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Miller was named president of Border States in 2005 and CEO in January 2006. She has been a Border States officer and member of the board of directors since 1996, and an executive council member since its inception in 1997.
Schréder Lighting USA (Chicago): Cedric Van Den Haute was promoted to product and brand manager. In his new position, Van Den Haute will oversee all marketing, market research, advertising and public relations efforts. He will serve as liaison to Schréder Group G.I.E.'s Research and Development department in Belgium and develop sales training programs, promotions and support for the firm's sales agents and customers. Prior to joining Schréder Lighting USA, Van Den Haute was employed by the Schréder Group G.I.E. for nearly six years where he served as export manager, Asia-Pacific, with Schreder Lighting LLC's affiliate, Comelec SA, in Belgium. He was in charge of sales in Asia and the Pacific Basin and helped pioneer the very first LED street lighting installation.
Rep News
The National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA), Tarrytown, N.Y.: NEMRA announced its board of directors for 2008-2009 at its Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. New officers are: Chairman, Ralph Bliquez, Ewing-Foley Inc.; Chairman-Elect, Kelly Boyd, CPMR, Electrorep Inc.; Secretary/Treasurer, Rick Johnson, CPMR, Andrews-Johnson-Brusacoram; and Immediate Past Chairman, Stephen J. Gallagher, CPMR, Synergy Electrical Sales, Fairless Hills, Pa.
Other board members are; Greg Reynolds, CPMR, Flynn & Reynolds Agency Inc.; Mark Gibson, Agents Midwest Ltd.; Phillip Hedrick, CPMR, Electri-Products Group Inc.; John Gunn, GCA; Mike Gorin, CPMR, Gorin-Hopper-McCoy Inc.; James Yore, CPMR, Electrical Marketing Services; Kathy-Jo Van, Coleman Cable Inc.; CEMRA Director, Denis Ricard, Contact Delage, Inc.; Henry P. Bergson, NEMRA president; and Nancy J. Sciotto, NEMRA vice president of operations.
Also at NEMRA's Annual Conference, members of the association's Manufacturers Group (NMG) Executive Committee were announced. They are: Chairman, Kenneth W. Hooper, Ferraz Shawmut Inc., Newburyport, Mass.; Co-chairman, John Hoffman, The Wiremold Co., West Hartford, Conn.; Immediate Past Chairman, Gary Norris, ILSCO, Cincinnati; Liz O'Grady, Carlon, Cleveland; Bruce Bittner, Milbank Manufacturing Co., Kansas City, Mo.; Dale Hull, Federal Signal Corp., University Park, Ill.; Mike Winter, EGS Electrical Group, Easy Heat, New Carlisle, Ind.; Tom Fredericks, American Polywater Corp., Stillwater, Minn.; Margie Basney, Hoffman Enclosures, Anoka, Minn.; Roger Vaught, Allied Tube & Conduit, Harvey, Ill.; and Tom Pankratz, CPMR, Sola/Hevi Duty, Rosemont, Ill.
Mike Gambino, former president and chief executive officer, Pass & Seymour/Legrand, Syracuse, N.Y., was awarded NEMRA's Thomas F. Preston Manufacturer of the Year Award.