people

Oct. 1, 2011
Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.): Nick Shkordoff has been appointed group V.P. and general manager of the company's electrical division, replacing Glenn

Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.): Nick Shkordoff has been appointed group V.P. and general manager of the company's electrical division, replacing Glenn Hollister, who will take on a new role at the company and launch a newly formed division focused on the fast-growing health and safety market.

Shkordoff had been president of Anderson Power Products (APP), an Ideal subsidiary that designs and manufactures high power interconnects and accessories. Previously, he was president of Ideal Industries Canada. In addition, Jeffrey Burkhardt, currently V.P. of global sales and marketing for Anderson Power Products, has been appointed that company's new general manager, succeeding Shkordoff.

International Battery Inc. (Allentown, Pa): Dennis Sadlowski, formerly CEO of Siemens Energy & Automation, is now CEO. In other executive changes , Mark Mills, International Battery's current chairman of the board, assumes the position of executive vice chairman and Dr. Ake Almgren, the company's current CEO, is retiring from that position and has become chairman. In addition to his executive experience at Siemens, Sadlowski was V.P. and general manager at Thomas & Betts. He also spent 10 years at General Electric, served on the board of governors of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and holds an MBA from Seattle University and a BS in chemical & nuclear engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Switch Lighting (San Jose, Calif.): The LED manufacturer announced the appointment of electrical industry veteran Tracy Bilbrough as its new CEO, effective immediately. He previously served as president and CEO of Generation Brands, which owns a diverse array of residential lighting brands, including Sea Gull Lighting, Murray Feiss and Monte Carlo; president and CEO of Juno Lighting; president of T&B's Commercial Division; and held senior management posts at Black & Decker. He has an MBA from the University of Baltimore and a BA in economics from Loyola University in Maryland.

Arlington Industries, (Scranton, Pa.): Dennis Gravette, formerly Western regional manager for Burndy, will join the Arlington sales team effective Oct. 1. He will assume the position of Western regional manager currently held by Larry Troxel in Jan. 2012. Troxel will remain with the company, assuming a newly created market development role for Arlington. Gravette has 30 years of experience in the electrical industry.

Sonepar Canada (Mississauga, Ontario): Keith Moss, currently president and CEO of Sonepar Canada, has been appointed president of the Asia-Pacific Region to succeed Marius van Huijstee. A Canadian citizen born in the United Kingdom, Moss joined Sonepar Canada in 1999 and had growing responsibilities before being promoted managing director of the company in 2008. In the past 10 years, the group's Canadian organization has grown its sales from C$500 million to C$1 billion. Moss will become a member of the Sonepar Executive Committee, be based in Hong Kong and will take his new position as of Nov. 1.

In other news at Sonepar Canada, François Anquetil, currently president of Lumen, has been appointed managing director of Sonepar Canada to succeed Moss. Anquetil, a Canadian citizen born in France, started his career at Lumen in 1988 as controller. He subsequently held a wide variety of positions inside Sonepar Group, both in France and Canada (branch manager, twice operating company manager, vice-president of vendor relations and CFO) before taking up his current position as president of Lumen in 2008. He will be based in Toronto. Sonepar Canada has more than 1,500 employees in 90-plus branches within six divisions: CenturyVallen, Gescan, Lumen, Osso Electric, Texcan and SESCO.

Graybar Electric Co. (St. Louis, Mo.): The company has made two senior-level appointments. Steven Horst is now V.P., service and administration, and Scott Neubauer is now V.P. of pricing. Horst is now a 16-year Graybar veteran who most recently served as national market manager for construction. Horst also worked in Graybar's IT organization on process and systems development related to the company's launch of SAP. Horst has a BA in psychology from Washington State University. Neubauer is a 25-year company veteran most recently served as V.P. of service and administration. During his Graybar career, he advanced through several key roles, including manager of customer service, director of operations and director of business development. He has a BA in industrial management from Purdue University and is a graduate of the Rutgers-Graybar Supply Chain Management Program.

Mayer Electric Supply (Birmingham, Ala.): Charles Collat Jr. was recently promoted to executive V.P. and chief operating officer. The COO position at Mayer is new and he will take on new responsibilities in addition to his former responsibilities involving quality and training. After graduating from the University of Alabama in 1990, Collat worked as a Mayer sales trainee before joining GE, where he spent two years in customer service. He is a graduate of the company's management development program and has done extensive work with Six Sigma quality management teams.

Border States Electric (Fargo, N.D.): BSE announced two promotions. Justin Chase is now branch manager for BSE's Pewaukee and Green Bay, Wis., and Kingsford, Mich., locations, and Shawn Kamrath has been named industrial market manager. Chase joined the company in 1997 and has held a variety of positions at the corporate office in Fargo, N.D., including supply chain services manager and supply chain services alliance manager. Chase received his BA from Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, Minn. Kamrath joined the company in Oct. 2006 an inventory planner, and in 2008 was named lead inventory planner for commodities. Kamrath obtained his BA from North Dakota State University.

Bell Electrical Supply (Santa Clara, Calif.): Dan McCafferty has joined Bell Electrical Supply as an account manager covering the Bay Area's industrial market segment. He spent 14 years as a senior account manager with Hubbell Wiring Devices calling on the OEM market for the greater Bay Area.

BJ Electric Supply Inc. (Madison, Wis.): Rick Klingele has been promoted to lighting/energy services manager, where he will manage all aspects of BJ Electric's project and stock lighting sales. He will also manage the company's Energy Services Division, which includes lighting and switchgear energy savings retrofits and solar and wind project sales. He has also been designated as the company's Clean Energy Champion.

Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures (Belding, Mich.): David Slivinski is now national sales manager. He has more than 20 years of professional sales management experience at Fischer Flack (Kendall Electric), and Rockwell Automation. Most recently he served as V.P. of worldwide sales and marketing for GlobalWatt, a solar company. Slivinski graduated from Michigan Technological University with a major in Electrical Engineering.