People

Oct. 1, 2003
American Insulated Wire, a Leviton company (Pawtucket, R.I.): Bob Wheeler has joined the company as executive vice president and will succeed Bill Bonde

American Insulated Wire, a Leviton company (Pawtucket, R.I.): Bob Wheeler has joined the company as executive vice president and will succeed Bill Bonde as president and chief operating officer when Bonde retires at the end of this year. Wheeler has spent many years in the electrical industry, with previous positions as president of Triangle Wire & Cable and AFC, respectively.

Holophane, an Acuity Brands company (Newark, Ohio): Ronda McCullar has joined the company as market development manager, infrastructure and commercial outdoor group. She comes to Holophane from Thomas & Betts where she served in a variety of marketing positions.

Eecol Electric (Calgary, Canada): Alf Gabert, vice chairman of the board and CEO, has retired following 45 years with the company. George Fleck, formerly president and COO, has been appointed as president and CEO of the Eecol companies. Tom Crist has been appointed executive vice president and COO. He was formerly manager of corporate affairs. Darren Buium has been appointed general sales manager for all Eecol Canadian operations. He was formerly regional manager for Southern Alberta. Larry Knorr has been appointed general manager of the utility supply division. He was formerly industrial manager for southern Alberta. Mike Cumberland has been appointed regional manager for southern Alberta. He was Surrey, British Columbia, branch manager. Erwin Conn has been appointed president and general manager of Eecol Electric in Chile, South America. He also has responsibility for the management of Eecol operations in Peru, South America.

Crescent Electric Supply (East Dubuque, Ill.): Steve Owsley has been named manager of the company's low voltage business group. He joins Crescent with more than 15 years experience in the data/communications industry in a variety of positions including major account representative.

Stuart C. Irby (Jackson, Miss.): Gary Tucker has been named branch manager for the company's Jackson, Miss., utility sales branch. Tucker, who has been with the company for 35 years, has been one of the company's leading sales producers.

Don Blackburn & Co. (Livonia, Mich.): John A. McBride has been appointed chairman and chief executive officer. Previously, he was president. Ronald Clark will succeed McBride as president. Clark was previously executive vice president.

Maurice Electrical Supply Co. (Washington, D.C.): Gordon Reynolds, with 26 years of lighting experience, comes to Maurice Electric as a commercial lighting project estimator.

Tyco International Ltd. (Pembroke, Bermuda): David J. FitzPatrick has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer for the company. FitzPatrick joins Tyco from United Technologies Corp., where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer since 1998. He succeeds Mark Swartz, who resigned from the company. William B. Lytton has been appointed executive vice president and general counsel. He most recently served as senior vice president and general counsel for International Paper Co.

Noland Co. (Newport News, Va.): Jeff Watkins has been named manager of the Winston-Salem, N.C., branch. He joined Noland Co. in October 2001 as assistant branch manager in the Richmond, Va., branch. He has been in the wholesale distribution industry for 10 years. William Deakin has been named manager of the company's Florence, S.C., branch. Deakin was most recently operations manager for the company's Atlanta operations. Michael Miller has been named manager of the company's Memphis, Tenn., branches. He joined the company earlier this year as an assistant branch manager after seven years with another wholesale distributor.

Kirby Risk Electrical Supply (Lafayette, Ind.): Phil Steele has been appointed director, strategic account programs. He was most recently director, strategic sales. Chris Shelton has been named strategic sales manager. Most recently, he was area sales manager for Lafayette, Frankfort, Rensselaer, LaPorte and South Bend, Ind., locations. Mike Plaster was promoted to supply division manager of the regional distribution center. He will also remain responsible for branch operations and sales for Indianapolis and Shelbyville, Ind., markets. He was Indianapolis division manager.

Schneider Electric SA (Paris): Steve Little, formerly vice president of information services for the North American Division, has been named vice president and chief information officer at global headquarters in Paris. Ralph Harris, formerly director of marketing operations, has been appointed vice president of OEM sales, responsible for sales to original equipment manufacturers in North America. Chris Curtis, previously vice president of marketing for the United States, has been named president of Schneider Canada. Andre Perra, formerly president of Portland, Ore.-based Veris Industries, a producer of electrical metering and monitoring products acquired in 1999, succeeds Curtis as vice president of marketing for the United States. Andy Gravitt, formerly vice president of residential sales, has been named vice president, customer operations, responsible for the company's advanced North American customer service center and overall order fulfillment and customer service. Harvey Dunham, formerly vice president of sales operations, has been named vice president of sales for buildings, systems and solutions with Schneider Electric in the United Kingdom.

Software Solutions Inc. (Atlanta): Randy Keith has been appointed president and a member of the company's board of directors. Keith brings more than 20 years of experience to Software Solutions, most recently as CEO of Internet Integrity Systems.

ABB Ltd. (Zurich): Juergen Dormann was recently appointed chief executive of ABB Ltd. He replaced Joergen Centerman. Dormann is also chairman of ABB and chairman of pharmaceutical company Aventis SA.

Penn-Union Corp. (Edinboro, Pa.): Formerly a project engineer with the company, Priscilla J. Soliday has been promoted to supervisor of inside sales at the main sales office in Edinboro.

Rexel (Dallas): Jean-Charles Pauze, chairman of the management board of Guilbert, replaces Alain Redheuil as chairman and CEO of Rexel. Rexel is a subsidiary of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, Paris.

Obituaries

Jerome “Jerry” Pritko, vice president of Fromm Electric Supply Co., Reading, Pa., died Sept. 18. He was 61 years old. Pritko was vice president of Fromm Electric Corp., Reading, Pa., for the last three years. Prior to that, he was vice president of Fromm Electric Corp., Bethlehem, Pa., for 38 years.

George M. Bernardo, former Western region manager of NAED, died Aug. 30. He was 59 years old. Bernardo held a master's degree in business administration from the University of Detroit and spent his entire career in the electrical industry. He was with Westinghouse Electric Corp. from 1966 to 1973, and with Phelps-Dodge Cable & Wire Corp. from 1973 to 1975. In 1976, he joined NAED as Western Region Manager and held that post until 1998. After leaving NAED, he formed his own marketing consulting firm, which served the electrical industry.

Carl “Bert” Andrews, of Horizon Solutions, died Sept. 2 at the age of 50. Andrews joined the electrical industry in 1976 when he began working for his father-in-law at Holmes Distributors Inc. and The House of Lights. Andrews became president of the company in 1988 and fourth-generation owner in 1989. He merged the company in 2000 to form Horizon Solutions Inc.

Wilfred “Wert” Fox, a founding partner of Fox-Rowden-McBrayer, died Sept. 6. He was 64. Fox started the manufacturers' rep firm, from which he retired five years ago, in 1969. He remained active in the electrical industry in the Atlanta area and through NEMRA, for which he was a regional vice president and an executive committee member.