National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED, St. Louis): John Duda, chairman and CEO of Butler Supply Inc., St. Louis, Mo., has been named as the incoming chair-elect of the NAED board of directors. Duda will serve as chair-elect in 2005-2006, preparing to lead the NAED board of directors in 2006-2007. Duda will be the third chairman from Butler Supply.
Encore Wire Corp. (McKinney, Texas): Daniel L. Jones, Encore Wire's president and chief operating officer, has assumed the additional responsibilities of chief executive officer on an interim basis. Vincent A. Rego, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, suffered a stroke on May 9. Rego is currently undergoing treatment.
Fluke Corp. (Everett, Wash): Carl Pickard has been named president of the industrial division, responsible for Fluke's industrial businesses, including digital multimeters, process tools, accessories, temperature, thermography, indoor air diagnostics and associated brands including Raytek. Pickard has served as the president of the Raytek division of Fluke for the past three years.
Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque, N.M.): Russ Hiller has joined the company as corporate controller. Hiller comes to Summit from Atkinson & Co. Ltd. where he specialized in tax and audit accounting. Steve Vandewater has joined the company as chief information officer and vice president of information technologies. Vandewater comes to Summit from CellStar Ltd.
Cooper Wiring Devices (Peachtree City, Ga.): Bob Pidgeon has been appointed market development manager. With more than 20 years of experience in the wiring-device industry, Pidgeon has been with Cooper Wiring Devices for seven years, most recently as product line manager for technology products.
Cooper Industries (Houston): Kirk S. Hachigian, president, has been elected to the additional post of chief executive officer. The position of chief executive officer had been held by H. John Riley Jr., who will retire Dec. 1 but will continue as Cooper's chairman until the board of directors meeting on Feb. 15, 2006.
CLS (Hartford, Conn.): Yolande Myerscough has joined the company's marketing team and will handle the marketing responsibilities for CLS locations in Waterford, Conn.; Cranston, R.I.; and the Massachusetts locations in Bridgewater, Weymouth, Milford and Worcester. Prior to joining CLS, Myerscough was show coordinator with George Little Management. Paul Klapman has been appointed branch manager of its Newport facility in Bridgewater, Mass. He joins CLS with more than 18 years of experience serving the electrical contractor market.
Obituaries
John Appleton, former president of Appleton Electric/EGS and son of Arthur Appleton, also a former Appleton Electric president, died April 30 as a result of a sky diving accident near Dallas. He was 55 years old.
The Appleton family founded and managed Appleton Electric until its sale to Emerson in 1993.
Appleton is survived by his wife of 31 years, Deborah; and three children, Stephen, Tracy and Katherine.
Jack M. Vilett Jr., former president and chief executive officer of Northland Electric Supply Co. and a longtime member of the North Central Electrical League, died May 16. He was 58 years old.
Vilett served on numerous boards and advisory councils within the electrical industry. A strong supporter of NAED, he was on the committee that initiated the YET program. Northland Electric Supply, Minneapolis, was acquired jointly by Werner Electric Supply of Minnesota and Van Meter Industrial in 2001.
Vilett is survived by his wife, Mary Vilett; son, Jack M. Vilett III; daughter, Elizabeth A. Vilett; and granddaughter, Annie Vilett Maguire.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Depression and Bi-Polar Support Alliance, 730 N. Franklin St., Suite 501, Chicago, IL 60610 or to the Humane Society.