People

April 1, 2012
Eaton Corp. (Cleveland): Revathi Advaithi has been promoted to president - Electrical Sector, Americas Region. Effective April 1, Advaithi will be responsible

Eaton Corp. (Cleveland): Revathi Advaithi has been promoted to president - Electrical Sector, Americas Region. Effective April 1, Advaithi will be responsible for the company's electrical business in North, South and Central America. She will oversee manufacturing operations, sales, marketing, technology and product development for 12 divisions and $4.2 billion in revenues.

Advaithi joined Eaton in 1995 in the company's Global Leadership Development program as a manufacturing supervisor at the hydraulics facility in Shawnee, Okla., and has held several senior management posts for the company since then, including V.P. and general manager for the Electrical Components Division, and president, Asia Pacific, Electrical Sector, based in Shanghai.

Independent Electric Supply Inc./Sonepar (San Carlos, Calif.): Mike Baker is now V.P. of sales and business development and will support sales and market growth in specific Bay Area markets. He was the company's director of marketing and vendor relations for the last two years. Baker has been with Independent Electric Supply since 1995 and is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Eric Rondolat has been appointed CEO of Lighting and will be a member of the company's Executive Committee, effective April 1, succeeding Frans van Houten who has led Philips Lighting on an interim basis. Rondolat joins Philips from Schneider Electric, where he held a series of management posts, including executive V.P. of the company's Power Asia-Pacific Business, and global marketing positions with the company's Merlin Gerin subsidiary.

IDEA (Alexandria, Va.): Susan Streich has joined the IDEA team as national sales manager. Streich spent the last six years with Epicor's Vista division and has worked for many years in market research, starting her career with the AC Nielsen company. She also worked for a buying group for eight years.

Halco (Norcross, Ga.): Kim Cook will assume the position as president of Halco Lighting Technologies. She will also retain her current title as COO, which she has held since 2005. Since joining Halco in 1992, Cook has held positions as account representative, regional sales manager, national sales manager and V.P. of sales and marketing before becoming the company's COO. In other news at Halco, Lisa Johnson was promoted to operations manager, where she will oversee IT, Purchasing and Facilities, as well as implementation of company policies.

Needham Electric Supply Co. (NESCO) (Canton Mass.): Mike Gambino has joined the company's board of directors, bringing more than 30 years of executive management experience and industry knowledge. He was president of Pass & Seymour/Legrand and Wiremold/Legrand until his retirement in 2007. Before that, Gambino started his own consulting firm and created bestroute.com, an online site for hard-to-find electrical products. Earlier in his career, he was with Midland Ross/American Electric prior to their acquisition by Thomas & Betts. Gambino joins current board members Tom Cloud, chairman of the board for United Electric; William Von Achen, president of Strategic Management Resources; and Frank Cincotta, co-founder and chairman of the board for Needham Electric.

In other news at the company, Greg Hushin has been appointed purchasing director, bringing NESCO more than 30 years' industry experience in procurement and materials management, most recently with Rexel/CLS. During his time with Capitol Light/CLS he was integral in their growth and managed over 20 branch openings across New England.

Horizon Solutions (Rochester, N.Y.): Industry veteran Mike Ales has joined the company and will manage Horizon's central distribution center and inventory management/purchasing team. He was previously Werner Electric's V.P. of purchasing and operations.

Cleaves-Bessmer-Marietti (CBM), Inc. (Kansas City, Mo.): Duff Greenwood has been named president of this independent manufacturers' rep. Greenwood has been with CBM Inc. since 1978; was named as a vice president in 1992; and been on the board of directors since 1996. Prior to CBM, Greenwood worked at General Electric Supply Co. in Topeka, Kan., as a branch manager, and was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

WattStopper/Legrand (Santa Clara, Calif.): Jim Young will join the company as vice president of sales and marketing and Shireen Zekanoski becomes the V.P. of operations and engineering. Young was most recently an executive with Acuity Brands, serving as V.P. and general manager of the company's specialty group, which includes Winona Lighting, Peerless, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel and Mark Architectural Lighting brands. Zekanoski has held numerous senior positions with Silicon Valley companies, including NeoPhotonics, Apple, Celerity and 3Com. Most recently, Zekanoski was V.P. of global operations for Santur Corp. Prior to that, she was with Apple.

Border States Electric (BSE) (Fargo, N.D.): Laura Drager has been named branch manager for the BSE location in Billings, Mont. Drager has been in the electrical supply business for 28 years. Before joining BSE, she was the regional operations manager for HD Supply Utilities' Northwest Region. She earned her BA in organizational leadership at the University of St. Mary, and is a member and past president of the Montana Association of Female Executives (MAFE).

W.W. Grainger (Lake Forest, Ill.): Sean O'Brien, president, Acklands-Grainger Inc., Grainger's Canadian subsidiary, resigned from the company effective March 23. O'Brien joined Acklands-Grainger as V.P., sales, in Nov. 2007, taking on additional responsibilities for e-business and marketing in early 2009. He was named president in Sept. 2009. Mike Pulick, president, Grainger International, will serve as interim president of Acklands-Grainger.

Burndy ( Manchester, N.H): Stephen Hayes is now Southeast regional sales manager. He has been with Burndy since 1998, most recently as a key account manager responsible for Rexel, Sonepar and IMARK and before that a field sales rep in Alabama. He has a BS in Industrial Distribution from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Maxlite (West Caldwell, N.J.): Douglas Kruse has been appointed South Central region sales manager and will work closely with MaxLite's sales agencies to develop LED marketing programs and other energy-efficient lighting programs for architects, designers, lighting distributors and specifiers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. His professional experience includes serving as Southern Central sales rep for Progress Lighting, as well as the district sales rep (to Home Depot) for Hunter Ceiling Fan Co.

In other news at the company, Pat Treadway and James Steedly were appointed to director of product marketing and director of product R&D and engineering, respectively. Treadway and Steedly will continue reporting to Thomas Rhee, MaxLite's senior V.P. of sales, marketing and product. In his new role, Treadway will be responsible for overall product strategic planning, including short- and mid-term product roadmaps, brand positioning, product category expansion, supply chain development and the development of new emerging technologies. Steedly will provide technical leadership and create competitive cutting-edge lighting solutions while incorporating new ideas, technologies and methodologies.