Graybar Electric Co. (St. Louis): Bob Siegel has been appointed to the position of V.P. of investment and inventory management, effective April 1, and Garry Acker has been appointed to the position of vice president, product management, effective May 1. Siegel has nearly 28 years of experience and previously held the position of V.P., product management. He replaces Tom Van Ash, who is retiring after more than 30 years of service. Acker has 31 years of Graybar experience and previously served as V.P., corporate accounts.
Border States Electric (BSE) (Fargo, N.D.): The company announced several promotions and the retirement of a key executive. Gerald “Poke” Buck has been named senior V.P. of sales and marketing; Keith Holland has been named V.P. of supply chain services; Phil Settles has been named V.P. of the company’s South Central region; and Blake Sexton, V.P. business development, has been named to the BSE executive council.
Greg Thrall, senior V.P. of operations and IT, retired on March 31 after 39 years. He served in many management positions at the branch and corporate levels, including assistant warehouse supervisor, city desk representative, account manager, branch manager, and senior V.P. operations and IT.
Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. (Melville, N.Y): Marvin Hagemeier has been promoted to director of commercial and industrial sales for the Western region. He joined Leviton in 1985 as an electrical distribution sales representative in east and central Texas and has also worked for Leviton as Electrical Distribution sales manager for the company’s Dallas district and as South Central regional sales manager. He succeeds Izzy Oleinik, who retired on Jan. 1 after a career of 23 years with Leviton.
Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Eric Rondolat has been appointed CEO of Lighting and member of the company’s executive committee, effective April 1. He succeeds Frans van Houten who has led Philips Lighting on an interim basis. Rondolat joins Philips from Schneider Electric, where he held a series of management posts, including executive V.P. of the company’s Power Asia-Pacific Business, and global marketing positions with the company’s Merlin Gerin subsidiary.
Rexel SA (Paris): Peter Hakanson has been appointed group senior V.P. of operations effective July 1 and will manage IT, supply chain management, CRM and e-commerce, quality improvement projects and operational excellence programs across the group. In this new role, he will become a member of Rexel’s executive committee, reporting directly to Rudy Provoost, chairman of the management board. Presently Philips Lighting’s chief supply officer, Peter Hakanson brings to Rexel a wealth of expertise in supply chain management, process implementation and quality programs.
In other news at the company, Pascal Martin, currently in charge of the overall Rexel group business development and corporate operations organization, will become group senior V.P., corporate strategy, business portfolio management and new business development. In this position, he will be in charge of the group’s strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, international clients and new business development, supplier relationship management, marketing, special growth and innovation initiatives. Martin will continue to be member of the executive committee, as well as the management board.
Fulham Co. Inc. (Hawthorne, Calif.): Leonard Fernandez is now V.P. of the company’s Latin America region and will responsible for growing Fulham’s presence in Mexico, the Caribbean and all of Latin America. He joins Fulham after most recently serving as senior V.P. for Enfinity Corp., a renewable energy development company. In his 35-year career, Leonard has held a number of executive management positions with General Electric and Group Schneider (Square D).
Halco Lighting Technologies (Norcross, Ga.): Jeff Emerson was hired as product analyst and will assist in Halco’s product development by researching industry trends and new technologies and by testing and analyzing Halco and Sollos products.
Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.): Jim James, president and CEO, will assume the additional duties of vice chairman of the board of directors, effective immediately. James joined Ideal in Aug. 2008 in his current role after serving as president of ITW Building Components Group, a division of Illinois Tool Works.
National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) St. Louis: The association recently announced the recipients of several of its big awards. Tom Cloud, chairman of New Castle, Del.-based United Electric Supply, is the recipient of NAED’s highest honor, the 2012 Arthur W. Hooper Achievement Award; Larry Stern, president of Milwaukee-based Standard Electric Supply, will be awarded the 2012 NAED Distributor Distinguished Service Award; and Liz O’Grady, national sales manager with Thomas & Betts in Memphis, Tenn., is the recipient of the 2012 Associate Service Award, for her promotion and support of the tenets and goals of NAED.