Promotions and new appointments

At Hoffman, Anoka, Minn., Dave Buddle has been promoted to division sales manager, East. He was previously Central region sales manager. Richard Bryan has been promoted to division sales manager, West. He was previously Dallas district sales office manager and South Central region manager.

At bestroute.com, DeWitt, N.Y., Michael J. Gambino has been named president. He was previously president of M. J. Gambino & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm he established in 1996. He is a former senior manager with Thomas & Betts Corp. and Pass & Seymour/Legrand. John Hoeschele has been named vice president. He was previously vice president of creative services at Sage Marketing Communications, Inc. Mark H. Edwards, CPA, has been named vice president of finance and administration. He was most recently chief financial officer for Syracuse Language Systems. Matthew J. Finley has been named vice president of sales and supplier relations. He previously directed sales for Viking Electric Supply and managed his own consulting firm. Carl G. Sopchak has been named chief technology officer. He has 25 years of computing experience, including 16 years as a consultant, and established Cegis Enterprises, Inc., a firm that consulted to the manufacturing, service, distribution and retail sectors.

Winn Wise has been promoted to manager of marketing for the Wire and Cable division of Southwire Co., Carrollton, Ga. He was most recently marketing manager for Agent Territories in Distributor Sales.

At Ideal Industries, Inc., Sycamore, Ill., Robert N. Lane, president, has been named president and chief executive officer. He succeeds David Juday as CEO; Juday will remain chairman. Patrick Elliott has been appointed field sales engineer of the new test and measurement division. He is the first of several engineers who will be hired to support the sales efforts of the new division. Prior to this appointment, Elliott was distribution marketing manager for Fluke Corp. At Littlefuse, Des Plains, Ill., William S. Barron has been named vice president and general manager of the electronics worldwide business unit. He was previously responsible for the company's overall sales and marketing. Dal Ferbert has been named general manager of the power fuse unit. He was previously the company's marketing and sales division manager for power fuse products.

At Philips Lighting Co., Somerset, N.J., Tom Nelson has been named product manager for the HID category. Most recently he served as senior design engineer at Stonco, a division of the Genlyte Thomas Group.

At Graybar Electric Co., Inc., St. Louis, Mo., Jon N. Reed has been appointed vice president and treasurer. He succeeds John W. Wolf, who is retiring effective April 1, 2000. Reed was previously assistant to the treasurer. Dennis R.Rees, most recently a buyer for corporate purchasing, has been appointed national product specialist. Gary L. Fisher, formerly a senior accountant, has been appointed director, accounting information and reporting systems. Philip J. Grasham, formerly senior project leader at Information Systems, has been appointed director, field accounting operations. Roger P. Thiemann, formerly national manager, merchandise accounts payable, has been appointed director, national accounts payable.

Glenn A. Brodock, retired president of Rome Cable Corp., Rome, N.Y., and a founder of Kris-Tech Wire Co., died Jan. 25. He was 76 years old. He retired as president of Rome Cable Corp. in 1984 after 37 years with the company. He also was a former board member of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va., and chairman of the NEMA-PCEA Coordinating Committee. Brodock is survived by his daughter, Patricia; his son, Cris; two brothers, William and Gerald; and a grandson, Stephen.

James Michael Curley, founder of Curley Wholesale Electric, died Dec. 2, 1999. He was 68 years old. Curley moved to Santa Ana, Calif., in 1958 and worked for several electrical distributors in California. He opened his first business in the early 1970s and started Curley Wholesale Electric in 1981. He is survived by his wife, Ann; daughters, Marian Nanry, Therese Hogue and Ann Frazier; sons, Dennis and Patrick; a sister, Mildred Flaherty; and 10 grandchildren.