Kevin Stein joins Cooper Bussmann

Sept. 1, 2005
Cooper Industries Ltd. (Houston): Kevin M. Stein has been appointed president of the Cooper Bussmann division. He joins Cooper Bussmann from Tyco Electronics, where he served as general manager of the Raychem Circuit Protection unit. Previously, Stein held positions as global operations director and product line general manager with Tyco and Raychem.

Cooper Industries Ltd. (Houston): Kevin M. Stein has been appointed president of the Cooper Bussmann division. He joins Cooper Bussmann from Tyco Electronics, where he served as general manager of the Raychem Circuit Protection unit. Previously, Stein held positions as global operations director and product line general manager with Tyco and Raychem.

Crescent Electric Supply (East Dubuque, Ill.): Rich Antonaros joins Crescent Electric as manager for the St. Louis district. He has 14 years of industry experience from both the manufacturing and distribution side.

Ralph Pill Electric Supply (Boston): Don Block has joined Ralph Pill Electric Supply as vice president, sales. Block worked for 32 years with Graybar Electric Co., most recently serving as vice president-New England.

Hughes Supply Inc. (Orlando, Fla.): Jonathan House has joined Hughes Supply as vice president of supply chain management and will report to Chief Operating Officer Neal Keating. House most recently served as vice president, distribution and logistics at Standard Register, a leading information solutions company, in Dayton, Ohio.

Rexel Inc. (Dallas): Karl Williams has been promoted to the newly created position of director of product management. He is charged with improving sales and margin by effectively managing product offerings and prices. Williams' background includes 14 years with Rexel-New Zealand, where he rose to the position of marketing manager. He moved to the United States in 1991. Since 2001, Williams has been Rexel's product manager for lighting in the United States.

NESCO (Needham Electric Supply Corp., Canton, Mass.): NESCO has completed a planned expansion to include a new Southeast region office located in Charlotte, N.C. Travis Bramlett joins NESCO in the Charlotte office as senior account executive. The 10-year electrical industry veteran will head national-account efforts in the Southeast region. NESCO has also made the following staff additions. Adrianne Musto has joined the company as corporate marketing manager. Previously, she served as area sales manager for General Electric Co. and in marketing and manager roles for two large Massachusetts general contractors. Additionally, Paul Paris has joined NESCO as district manager for the Peabody, Mass., and Worcester, Mass., branches as well as the lighting showroom in Worcester. He has more than 30 years of experience in electrical distribution.

Genie Industries Inc. (Redmond, Wash.): Scott Owyen, who has been with Genie since 1983, was recently promoted to regional sales manager; he will oversee sales and customer support for all United Rentals branches in western Canada, Washington, Oregon, northern California, Idaho and Reno, Nev.

The Hite Co. (Altoona, Pa.): T. Scott Lawhead has been appointed vice president/chief financial officer. Lawhead joined The Hite Co. in 1998 as a management trainee and has ascended since, serving in various roles including director of operations and regional vice president.

EGS Electrical Group, a joint venture between Emerson Electric Co. and SPX Corp. (Rosemont, Ill.): Tim Maul has been appointed East Central area sales manager for the Appleton, O-Z/Gedney and McGill brand products. Maul's territory will include Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Maul brings more than 20 years of experience working for Graybar and Crescent Electric.

Federal Signal Corp. (University Park, Ill.): Joe Wilson has been promoted to vice president and general manager for the Federal Warning Systems group. Wilson joined Federal Signal in 1987 as the Western regional sales manager for electrical products and has continually progressed through the organization into positions of increasing responsibility. Dale Hull has been promoted to director of sales for the electrical products group. He will be responsible for all domestic and Canadian sales management, as well as overseeing Federal Signal's national distribution program. Hull joined Federal Signal in 2001 as Southeastern regional sales manager. Bob Patnaude has been promoted to director of marketing for the electrical products group. After just one year with Federal Signal, Patnaude and his team have made significant contributions to the marketing efforts. Before joining Federal Signal, Patnaude was president of Schulz-Patnaude Marketing Partners. Barry Hamilton has joined the company as Canadian sales manager for the electrical products group, and Jennifer Younker joins the company as marketing communications specialist for the electrical products division.

Acuity Brands Lighting Inc. (Atlanta): John K. Morgan has been named president and chief executive officer. Morgan, who previously served as president and chief development officer of Acuity Brands, replaces Kenneth W. Honeycutt Jr., who announced he will be retiring from the company on Dec. 31.

Border States Electric Supply (Fargo, N.D.): Matt Eddleman has joined Border States in Phoenix as a regional manager with general management responsibilities for the company's Southwest region, which includes six branch locations in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. Eddleman has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. During the last seven years, he worked with Rexel, most recently as sales and marketing manager — Rocky Mountain division.

Ideal Industries Inc. (Sycamore, Ill.): Mark Lindstrom has been appointed national accounts sales manager. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in industrial sales, customer service and relationship management.

Stuart C. Irby Co. (Jackson, Miss.): Doug Walo has been named vice president of commercial and contractor sales. This is Walo's second appointment with Stuart C. Irby; he served as director of sales in 1998. His experience includes time as director of sales for Standard Electric, Wilmington, Mass.; sales and marketing positions for Osram/Sylvania; and principal of his own consulting business, Walo and Associates. Frank Stebbins has been named corporate trainer. Stebbins will lead company training, staff development and education activities. With more than 15 years of experience in staff development and motivational training, he was most recently with MCI.

Universal Lighting Technologies (Nashville, Tenn.) Chris Holstein has been named director of marketing. He'll lead the marketing team in implementing a three-year strategic marketing plan that includes launching new online and on-site training programs for staff, distributors, contractors and end-users.

ABB Inc. (New Berlin, Wis.): Aaron Aleithe has joined ABB MV Drives as global vice president of business development, responsible for leading the growth of the business in the chemical, oil and gas segment. Aleithe has over 20 years of experience in the drives industry.

Wiseway Supply (Florence, Ky.): With several years of sales and marketing experience, Tim Fries has joined Wiseway as vice president of sales and marketing, a newly created position.

Cooper Wiring Devices (Peachtree City, Ga.): Jason Sherrill has been appointed product manager, technology products. Previously, Sherrill served Superior Modular Products Corp. as product manager.

Obituaries

Charles A. Womack Sr., who founded Womack Electric Supply, Danville, Va., died June 1. He was 87 years old. The family asks that memorials be made to the Womack Foundation, in care of American National Bank, P.O. Box 191, Danville, VA 24543.

Richard C. Buzun, who was president and chief executive officer of Siemens Energy & Automation, Alpharetta, Ga., from October 2000 to June 2002, died unexpectedly on July 11. He was 61 years old. Buzun joined Siemens Energy & Automation in 1994. Prior to joining Siemens, Buzun held positions of increasing responsibility at General Electric, where he started his career in 1967. Buzun served as a member on the IDEA board of directors, chairman of the CABA board of directors, and was a member of the board of directors for Workbrain.

Ernest Isenberg, retired president of Western Extralite Co., Kansas City, Mo., died Aug. 12. He was 81 years old. Isenberg immigrated to the United States in 1937. In 1949, he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in industrial engineering and joined his father in the family business. Isenberg retired in 1992, but he remained active in the electrical industry.

Lionel W. “Sonny” Nisbett died at his home in Brighton, Mich., on Aug. 20. He was 65 years old. Nisbett devoted more that 40 years of service to the electrical industry in Michigan. He spent the last four years working as a manufacturers' representative for Donald J. Hickey & Associates of Novi, Mich.