People

July 1, 2010
Electrical industry people on the move.

Osram Sylvania (Sunnyvale, Calif.): Tom Shottes will take responsibility for the new Professional Lighting Solid State Lighting and Light Management System groups as senior V.P. He will be succeeded as CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors Inc. by Don Klase. In his newly created role, Shottes will be responsible for the development, marketing and sale of professional solid-state lighting (SSL) solutions across North America. Shottes started his career with Osram Opto Semiconductors in 1998, where among other positions he worked in the area of LED for automotive lighting. He holds a degree in business administration from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Don Klase has worked in the semiconductor industry for 26 years and has held management positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing at Osram Opto Semiconductors Inc. In 1997, he joined Siemens Microelectronics and later transitioned to Osram Opto Semiconductors in 2004. He last held the post of V.P. of sales at the Osram subsidiary. He holds degrees from Pennsylvania State University (electrical engineering technology) and Linfield College (management).

Schneider Electric (Palatine, Ill.): Jeff Drees was named president of the company's U.S. operations. He will be accountable for driving growth and profitability of Schneider Electric in the United States, as well as coordinating the company's energy-efficiency and solutions initiatives across all businesses. Drees joined the company in 2001 and has served in various roles, leading the partner division and Energy Solutions sales and working with the corporate global office in partner recruitment and acquisition analysis. Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Drees held management and engineering positions at Caterpillar Inc. and Honeywell Inc. and served as a technician for the U.S. Air Force. Drees replaces Amy Huntington, who after 22 years with Schneider Electric has decided to leave the company to devote more time to her personal and charitable interests.

Pentair Inc. (Minneapolis): Todd Gleason, previously V.P. of strategy and investor relations, has been promoted to V.P. of strategy and marketing and Sara Zawoyski, previously with PepsiAmericas, joins the company as V.P. of investor relations. Gleason will report to Randall Hogan, chairman and CEO. Gleason received a M.A. degree in management from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. degree in international studies from Wesleyan University.

Zawoyski joins Pentair from PepsiAmericas, where she was the V.P. of investor relations since 2005. She will report to John Stauch, Pentair's executive V.P. and chief financial officer. Prior to her role in investor relations at PepsiAmericas, she worked as director of financial reporting and compliance. She received her B.S. degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ill.

Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque): Summit Electric Supply is expanding its Middle East sales strategy. Ralph Mouret is now managing the company's Export Division and Steven Towler has joined the company to head up Middle East sales. Towler is charged with opening a full-service Summit branch in Dubai, as well as developing a strategic customer base across the region.

Mouret, an engineering, purchasing and construction specialist in the oil and gas industry, has extensive international sales experience and joined Summit in September as director of the company's new EP&C division. Towler, a native of Scotland, has specialized in the electrical hazardous area sector. He has worked for both manufacturers and distributors in the United Kingdom and Middle East during his 26-year career. He also served on the Scottish sub-committee to the Energy Industry Council (EIC) from Sept. 2003 until Dec. 2006.

In other news at the company, Giovanni Coquis has joined Summit Electric Supply to expand sales in Latin America. Having lived and worked in the region, Coquis has extensive experience in Latin American markets and across industries, including oil, gas, mining and industrial and commercial construction. Coquis, who joined Summit June 1, will focus on heavy industrial projects in oil, gas and mining, beginning in Chile. His experience as business developer for Hilti North America and as sales manager for Hilti Latin America included logistics, large project management and strategic sales of distributors in a dozen Latin American countries. Coquis will be based in Houston, with Summit's Export Division.

Graybar Electric Co. (St. Louis): Steve Stone has been appointed V.P. of comm/data. He was most recently director of comm/data sales for the company's Pittsburgh region. He has a B.A. degree from the University of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of the Graybar/Rutgers Supply-Chain Management Program.

EMCOR Group, Inc. (Norwalk, Conn.): Frank T. MacInnis, chairman and CEO, will retire as CEO effective Jan. 3, 2011, after serving at the post for more than 16 years. It's expected that he will continue to serve as non-executive chairman of EMCOR's board of directors. Anthony Guzzi, currently Emcor's president and COO, will succeed MacInnis as CEO. Prior to joining EMCOR Group, Guzzi held a variety of senior leadership positions at United Technologies Corp. and its subsidiary Carrier Corp. from 1997 to October 2004. He also worked for McKinsey & Co. from 1993 to 1996. He received a B.S. in civil engineering and economics from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1986 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1993.

Lenox/Newell Rubbermaid (East Longmeadow, Mass.): Rich Wuerthele has been appointed president of the company's Industrial Products and Services business unit. Wuerthele joined Lenox/Newell Rubbermaid in 2003 and most recently held the position of president of the North American sales organization.

Leviton Manufacturing Co. (Melville, N.Y.): David Keller is now senior director of e-business and will lead Leviton's web-based marketing initiatives. His focus will include expansion of the company's online brand identity through the development of new web strategies, content expansion and compliance of design standards. Keller has 14 years of experience in information management and business technology. His previous experience includes serving as director of information technology for Leviton's distribution sales and marketing group, where he spearheaded the delivery of cost-effective technology solutions to support customer-centric sales initiatives, and working with two other principals of a company to host off-the-shelf computing applications for small to mid-sized companies. He holds a B.A. in political science from Queens College.

National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) (St. Louis): The association announced its new board of directors for 2010-2011. The 2010-2011 NAED Board Chairperson is Jack Henderson, executive vice president of Hunzicker Brothers Inc., in Oklahoma City. Robert Reynolds Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Graybar is Chair-Elect and will serve his term in 2011-2012.

Joining Henderson and Reynolds on this year's board are: Burt Schraga, NAED Past Chair, Bell Electrical Supply, Santa Clara, Calif.; Fil Cerminara, NAED Eastern Region V.P., F&M Electric Supply Co. Inc., Danbury, Conn.; Ray Womack, NAED South Central Region V.P., Womack Electric Supply Co. Inc., Burlington, N.C.; Rocklan Lawrence, NAED Western Region V.P., National Electric Supply Co. Inc., Albuquerque, N.M.; Dan Nitowsky, NAED Eastern Region V.P.-Elect, Mars Electric Co., Willoughby, Ohio; Maureen Barsema, NAED South Central Region V.P.-Elect, B J Electric Supply Inc., Madison, Wis.; and Andrew Akers, NAED Western Region V.P.-Elect, D&S Electrical Supply Co., Pocatello, Idaho.

Milbank Manufacturing (Kansas City, Mo.): Michelle Milburn has joined the company as a Wind Specialist for the Power Generation Team. She has 10-plus years in sales. Prior to joining Milbank, Milburn served as a Central Area Sales Representative at Aggreko, LLC where she worked in the utility, manufacturing, refining, alternative energy, engineering, construction, contracting and event production sectors.

ComCables (Denver): David Buchanan has been hired as senior account manager responsibility for managing a national account and Colorado-based low-voltage integrators. He comes to comCables from a Denver-based telephony integrator where he was director of sales. Buchanan has over a decade of telecommunications experience, including a specialization in telephony and IP-converged low-voltage systems.