Graybar Electric Co. (St. Louis): Following the retirement of company veteran Richard Offenbacher, the company appointed Bob Lyons to the position of senior vice president, U.S. business, effective April 1. Lyons will serve on Graybar's board of directors. A Graybar veteran of nearly 32 years, he currently serves as district vice president of Graybar's Tampa district.
In his new assignment, Lyons will oversee Graybar's field organization throughout the United States. In other news at the company, Bob Siegel is now V.P., product management. This appointment follows the recent retirement of Bruce Judkins as V.P., electrical. Siegel has been with Graybar for nearly 27 years, including positions in customer service, sales, purchasing, information technology and product management, most recently serving as a senior national product manager at Graybar's corporate headquarters. The company is also expanding the roles of two current executives. Bill Mansfield, formerly V.P., industrial, will now serve as V.P., industrial and commercial. Steve Stone, formerly V.P., comm/data, has been named V.P., electrical construction and comm/data, which includes all comm/data and utility customers.
National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) (St. Louis): David M. Crum, vice president of sales and marketing, Crum Electric Supply Co. Inc., Casper, Wyo., has been elected as the incoming Western Region vice president-elect to serve as vice president for 2012-2013. Crum has been in the industry for 14 years and has served on NAED's Western Region Council since 2004. He is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, with a B.S. in electrical engineering and a M.S. in finance.
Cooper Bussmann (St. Louis): Vince Saporita, V.P. of technical sales, has been named both an 2011 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow as well as a National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) 2010 Kite and Key Award winner. A 36-year veteran of Cooper Bussmann, Saporita serves as vice chair of NEMA's Codes and Standards Committee, as well as the chair of the NEMA-UL Technical Forum, Fuse Technical, and Fuse Ad-Hoc committees.
Saporita also participates in the Industrial Control Section and Low Voltage Distribution Equipment switch and panelboard sections and acts as NEMA's representative on NFPA 70E, the National Fire Protection Association Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. He represents the fuse industry on N.E. Code Panels 10 and 11, and is a registered P.E. in Illinois, has authored numerous IEEE and trade magazine articles, and was instrumental in the development of “IEEE 1584 Guide for Performing Arc Flash Hazard Calculations.” He earned his BSEE from the University of Missouri-Rolla and an MBA from Lindenwood College.
Eck Supply Co. (Richmond, Va.): Keith Steger, formerly executive V.P. and director of corporate operations, was promoted to president, effective Jan. 3. He started with Eck Supply in 1977 and has been promoted to management positions of increasing authority since then.
Generac Power Systems Inc. (Waukesha, Wis.): Duane Nelson has joined the company as V.P. of marketing. In his new role, Nelson will be responsible for leading Generac's global marketing strategy, including branding, market research and marketing communications across all channels. Nelson brings 18 years of marketing expertise to Generac, most recently serving as director of global brand management with Case IH, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment. He has also served on the board of directors of Growth Energy, a group supporting the use of ethanol, and worked for Bombardier Recreational Products and several marketing agencies. Nelson holds bachelor's degrees in finance and economics from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and an M.B.A. from Marquette University.
Nora Lighting (Commerce, Calif.): Doug Boughton has joined the company as national accounts sales manager. Boughton, who has more than 30 years of lighting experience, will work with Nora national account distributors and customers nationwide. He worked with Hubbell Lighting for more than nine years as a national accounts sales manager and was also previously affiliated with a major lighting rep agency in Philadelphia.
Fulham Co, Inc. (Hawthorne, Calif.): Robert Adams is now national sales manager for emergency lighting products, including the FireHorse Emergency Lighting Systems and FireHorse Emergency Exit Systems. Adams joins Fulham with over 15 years of management experience and more than 10 years of electrical distribution experience, including positions with City Electric Supply and CED.
IDEA (Arlington, Va.): Rita Deurdulian, director of sales and marketing, will leave her position on Feb. 25 to join her husband at an overseas post with the Foreign Service. She will also be entering the Master's program in strategic PR at George Washington University. IDEA has not yet named a successor to handle the organization's public relations, marketing and sales.