People

Osram Sylvania (Danvers, Mass.): Francis Santiago has been named executive vice president of General Lighting for Osram Sylvania. Santiago was previously executive vice president and general manager of the Precision Materials & Components division in Exeter, N.H. Prior to that role, he was senior vice president of operations for General Lighting. He will continue to serve on the Osram Sylvania executive committee in his new position.

Omni Cable (West Chester, Pa.): Peter Comber will assume the responsibilities of executive vice president of sales and marketing. David DiDonato has been appointed national sales manager. Comber will be responsible for driving the corporate focus in all aspects of sales and marketing with all Omni Cable customer partners. During Comber's 10-plus years at Omni, he advanced through the company in both sales and marketing, managing relationships and national agreements with key accounts, buying groups and industry affiliations. DiDonato, a 20-plus year industry veteran, will work with Omni Cable's 10 branches across the United States on key partnerships. DiDonato has served the electrical distribution market with positions at Rockwell Automation and SupplyFORCE. Most recently, DiDonato served as a regional sales manager with Ideal Industries.

Pentadyne Power Corp. (Chatsworth, Calif.): Richard Newark has joined Pentadyne as chief operating officer. Newark most recently managed the turnaround of U.S. operations at Wolverine Advanced Materials, a global supplier of vibration damping and sealing materials for automotive, consumer electronics and industrial markets. Prior to Wolverine, Newark instituted lean manufacturing systems to produce high-volume automotive transmissions in a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and ZF Friedrichshafen, AG. He also served as chief product engineer and shop operations director at Cummins Engine Co.

Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque): Dan Long has joined the company's executive team as vice president of associate resources and chief talent officer. Among other objectives, Long is charged with integrating various human resources programs. Long will work to recruit top talent and provide the best training in the industry. He will also be responsible for developing and evaluating incentive programs and performance evaluation systems to manage current and future leadership for the company. Prior to joining Summit, Long practiced employment and labor relations law with the New Mexico firm of Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk.

Amerlux Lighting Solutions (Fairfield, N.J.): The company appointed two executives who hold key roles in the firm's leadership team. Sam Newberry has been appointed to vice president of sales and Bill Plageman has been promoted to vice president of specification sales. Both will report directly to Chuck Campagna, president and CEO of Amerlux. In his new position, Newberry will manage overall sales and the national sales team, while overseeing the development of relationships with national accounts, distributors and specifiers. Prior to his promotion, Newberry served as vice president of national accounts sales for Amerlux. He has more than 12 years of lighting industry experience including Western national accounts sales manager for Juno Lighting, and specification sales representative for Holophane Lighting. Plageman, the new vice president of national specification sales, is responsible for building a sales team to work with high-profile architectural, engineering and lighting design firms. Promoted from director of specification sales, he has more than 18 years of lighting experience working with the design community and national account end-users. Before joining the firm, Plageman served as regional director of national accounts for Lightolier, a division of the Genlyte Group.

Solon Manufacturing Co. (Chardon, Ohio): J. Timothy Dunn has been promoted to president; George P. Davet has been promoted to vice president/chief engineer; and Perry Blossom to vice president/treasurer. Dunn succeeds David J. Carpenter, who has been with the firm since 1960. Carpenter will remain as chairman of the board. Dunn began his career at Solon Manufacturing Co. in 1978. He was most recently vice president. As president, Dunn will continue to oversee manufacturing and production of the company as well as being directly involved in research and development and sales of new products for the Industrial Controls Division. Davet has been with Solon Manufacturing Co. since 1993. He holds the position of chief engineer for the Industrial Controls and Belleville Springs divisions. As vice president and chief engineer, Davet oversees application design and new product development for all of Solon Manufacturing's products. Perry Blossom came to Solon Manufacturing Co. in 1993 and holds the position of corporate treasurer and manager of the Belleville Springs division. Prior to his employment at Solon, he was employed in the banking industry. As vice president, Blossom will continue to oversee all corporate financial activities as well as the manufacturing, production and sales of the Belleville Springs division.

Obituaries

David Engelman of Fairfield, Conn., formerly general manager of GE Supply, Shelton, Conn., died March 9. He joined GE in 1954 and worked at several executive posts with GE's manufacturing and distribution operations before becoming GE Supply's general manager in 1973. He was a graduate of Indiana University. He is survived by his wife, Luann.

Kenneth Hoover of Plano, Texas, a senior executive with Summers Electric and Rexel, died March 3. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Marcia Hoover; his son, Kenneth E. Hoover; his son, Scott J. Hoover, and wife, Christy, and his granddaughter, Kaitlin Madison Hoover.