Electrical People: Williams Supply reorganizes management, new branch manager at Summit in Bryan, Texas, and more

Williams Supply Inc. (Roanoke, Va.):  The company has hired Joe Wunder as vice president of sales, promoted  Keith Beheler to V.P. of technical sales, and appointed Jeff Jackson to senior fluid power and instrumentation manager. Wunder will implement strategic plans to boost sales across Williams’ electrical supply and automation divisions. He joins the company with an extensive background in industrial technical sales; a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Military Institute; and a master’s of business administration from Averett University.

Beheler will be responsible for the continued growth of Williams’ Rockwell Automation products, software and services, and for leading sales growth by working with all of Williams Supply’s strategic automation vendors and other manufacturers who provide products associated with the automation industry.  He most recently served as automation division manager, regional sales manager and prior to that as a senior industrial account manager. Jackson is a certified fluid power pneumatic specialist with more than 30 years of industrial automation experience. By adding a pneumatics expert to its process instrumentation division, Williams Supply can now offer complete solutions to all markets.

Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque, N.M.): Jim Suttle joins Summit Electric Supply as service center leader of its new Bryan/College Station location currently operating as Central Electrical Supply. Summit acquired Central Electrical Supply in November. Suttle has had a career in electrical distribution that’s spanned more than 30 years across the Waco and College Station markets. He worked in numerous sales positions in Waco and managed operations and purchasing for a distributor in College Station.

Border States Electric (Fargo, N.D.): Keleigh Pearson has been named contract quality assurance manager. She joined BSE in 2008 and has been quality assurance coordinator since 2010. Pearson is a graduate of Boston University with a B.A. in environmental analysis and policy with an economics minor and an M.A. in energy and environmental Analysis. Additionally, she is  graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law.

Ideal Power Inc. (Austin, Texas): This solutions provider in the power conversion industry has appointed R. Daniel Brdar as CEO and chairman of the board. Paul Bundschuh will assume the role of president and chief commercial officer. Brdar has over 25 years of experience in the power systems and energy industries and has held a variety of leadership positions during his career, including president and CEO of FuelCell Energy Inc.; COO  of Petra Solar. He also worked for GE’s Power Systems Division and has research and development experience at the U.S. Department of Energy. Brdar has a BS in engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Wago Corp. (Germantown, Wis.): Mark Joseph is now regional sales manager for New England. Prior to joining WAGO, Joseph was an automation specialist for drives and motor controls at Horizon Solutions and Rexel Inc. He began his career working on submarines in the U.S. Navy and transitioned to industrial maintenance 13 years later. Joseph studied nuclear engineering at the Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando, as well as East Asian studies through the University of Maryland, where he studied abroad in Japan.

United Electric Supply (New Castle, Del.): The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) has named George Vorwick, Jr., the company’s president and CEO, as the incoming vice president-elect of the Eastern Region.  Vorwick was elected by the Eastern Region Council, which represents NAED member companies in the Eastern U.S. He has been in the industry more than 30 years and has attended NAED conferences since 1991, becoming a member of the council in 2010.  He has participated in the Strategic Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning initiatives and is currently a member of the Selling Services Think Tank.

Tivoli, LLC (Tustin, Calif.): Billy Rahaniotis has been appointed Eastern Region sales manager for the 50-year-old manufacturer of LED linear lighting systems for architectural, commercial and auditorium lighting. Rahaniotis will be responsible for sales and business development in the Eastern Region through architectural firms, lighting designers, interior designers and Tivoli’s network of representatives and distributors. He has over 18 years of experience in business development and marketing and was previously an architectural lighting rep at International Lights, New York. He will be based in New York.