People

Feb. 1, 2009
USA Wire & Cable (Austin, Texas): Hugh Robertson has been hired in the newly created role of vice president, sales and marketing. Robertson is a marketing

USA Wire & Cable (Austin, Texas): Hugh Robertson has been hired in the newly created role of vice president, sales and marketing. Robertson is a marketing veteran who enjoyed a 20-year career in the music industry. During his tenure with global leader EMI Music, Robertson grew sales and distribution teams for Capital-EMI and the Nashville label group EMI CMG, as well as heading artist development and marketing groups for several of EMI's Nashville labels. Robertson will work with the sales team to develop new business opportunities in renewable and clean energy with an emphasis on wind and solar; to expand the company's existing strength in supplying the power generation and industrial markets throughout the U.S. with strong support through wholesale distribution. Robertson's history in the cable industry goes back to his late teens and early 20s when he worked at Houston Wire and Cable. Robertson's father, Hugh Robertson, helped found HWC in the early 70s.

Leviton Manufacturing Co. (Little Neck, N.Y.): David Keller has been appointed to the newly created position of director of information technology for distribution sales and marketing. Keller's focus will include streamlining processes, reducing administrative overhead and delivering solutions that support green customer and field personnel marketing and sales initiatives. Keller was previously a director in Leviton's Information Management department. He also worked on other projects to speed financial reporting and sales analysis.

Jerry Switzer has been appointed senior product manager, Distributed Energy Management Systems, for the company's Lighting Management Systems business. Switzer has 20 years of experience in marketing, product management and business development. In his new role, Switzer will spearhead the development of eco-friendly distributed lighting energy management systems for dimming, occupancy detection and daylighting control. These systems offer zone control in commercial environments that provide flexible, PC-based control options for lighting an entire building, a single floor or corridor, or a private work space. Prior to joining Leviton, Switzer worked at Hewlett-Packard for 17 years in the area of business development, and at GE Security, where he worked for three years in product and marketing management.

Fire-Lite Alarms (Northford, Conn.): The company hired two new representatives: Dan Lajoie in the east and Leon Parks to cover the northwest. As sales manager for the northern mid-Atlantic region, Lajoie is responsible for Fire-Lite sales and customer support throughout Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Lajoie worked for Honeywell Security Group's sales team before subsequently joining Fire-Lite. In his role as northwest regional sales manager, Parks will provide Fire-Lite dealer and distributor support across Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. Prior to joining Fire-Lite, Parks managed the sales, installation and operations of two fire alarm dealers, Smith Fire Systems and Mountain Alarm, for nearly 10 years.

IP Group International (Scottsdale, Ariz.): IP Group has expanded its services and associates. IP Group has a new associate, Hank Bergson, former president of the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA), and current president of Henry Bergson Associates LLC, will be available as a strategic resource to clients of the IP Group International. He will provide the IP Group International with additional depth on the use, development, training and management of independent electrical representatives; new product development strategies that include the design of sales force, distribution and manufacturer partnerships; and facilitation of panels, groups or committees in the electrical industry and related fields.

Mike Jedrzejewski has joined the IP Group to head up its Electronic Channel of Distribution market. Jedrzejewski has more than 20 years in the electronics industry. His work included Microchip, Freescale and Zilog. Jedrzejewski has worked in the following positions — director of Asia sales, senior director of global field technical marketing, director of global field applications engineering, and director of sales operations. He has experience in multi-national sales, marketing and engineering teams, in both direct and multi-tiered channel sales and distribution models.

Tork, a division of NSi Industries (Huntersville, N.C.): Sam Shankar, president of Tork, retired at the end of 2008 after 35 years with the company. Shankar graduated in electrical engineering in 1963. He worked as a junior engineer with a consulting engineering firm, then for an electrical construction company. He joined Tork in 1973 as a manufacturing engineer. He worked in production and inventory control, purchasing, engineering, sales and marketing. Shankar was named president in 1987 and co-CEO in 1996. He will be a consultant to Tork and the electrical industry.

CRF Solutions (Simi Valley, Calif.): Chris Ring has joined the company as business development manager for the Lien Management Division. For the past six years, Ring has helped hundreds of companies develop and implement procedures to best utilize the Mechanics' Lien and Bond Claim filing process. Ring has conducted educational seminars for the National Association of Credit Managers and several Fortune 500 companies on the Mechanics' Lien and Bond Claim filing process. Ring is based in the Midwest office of CRF Solutions.

Staco Energy Products Co., a subsidiary of Component Corp. of America (Dayton, Ohio): Sumit Chatterjea has joined the company as Eastern regional sales manager. Chatterjea, who is based in the Chicago area, is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with business partners who promote the company's power quality products in the eastern region of the U.S. Chatterjea has experience within the electrical controls arena and comes to Staco from Siemens.

National Lighting Bureau (Silver Spring, Md.): Robert W. “Rob” Colgan Jr. has been elected chair of the National Lighting Bureau. Colgan agreed to serve as interim chair of the bureau during the final quarter of 2008, when then-chair Doug Baillie retired from Acuity Brands Lighting. Colgan was elected to a full term as chair at the bureau's recent annual meeting. At the same meeting, Susan Bloom, the Philips Lighting and Advance representative, was re-elected bureau vice chair. Howard P. Lewis, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) representative, was elected secretary/treasurer. Colgan is the National Electrical Contractors Association's (NECA) executive director of marketing. He also oversees NECA's public relations and membership recruitment and retention activities. Others elected or re-elected to serve on the National Lighting Bureau's Executive Committee are: Steve Braun (Vandal Shields); Mike Colotti (OSRAM Sylvania Inc.); John Coventry (International Association of Lighting Designers); Mary Beth Gotti (GE Lighting); Terry McGowan (International Dark-sky Association); Cary S. Mendelsohn (interNational Association of Lighting Management Companies); Steven Myers (Philips Lighting Co.); Tom Naber (National Association of Electrical Distributors); Ron Runkles (National Electrical Manufacturers Association); Kristine Winner (National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions); and James M. Yorgey (Lutron Electronics Co.).

The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED), St. Louis, has named Rocklan Lawrence president and CEO of National Electric Supply Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., as the incoming Western region vice president-elect. Lawrence has served in the industry for 23 years and has a long tenure on NAED's Western Region Council. He is also a former member of YET, known today as Leadership Enhancement and Development (LEAD). In addition, his company is active in the association, participating in many areas, including PAR and the Employee Compensation Study. As an NAED regional vice president-elect, Lawrence will help lead the region's conferences, council meetings, and other events. He will also participate in NAED's membership and strategic focus committees. In addition, when Lawrence becomes vice president in May 2010, he will serve on the NAED Board of Directors.

Sea Gull Lighting (Riverside, N.J.): The company appointed three sales management members to new roles within the company. Travis Wilcox, a five-year veteran of the company, has been appointed Western regional sales manager. He led the Northwest sales region for Sea Gull Lighting. Prior to managing the company's distribution sales, he served as a builder sales manager for the Western region. Stacey Rosenstein will now serve as the Northeast regional sales manager. Rosenstein has been with the company for more than eight years serving the company's builder business development and account management. Scott Smith has been appointed to a newly created position of business development manager — government programs. In this role, Smith will be responsible for expanding the company's specifications and sales to government-sanctioned facilities. He has an electrical distribution sales and management background and military experience.