Electrical People: Graybar names regional VPs in Phoenix and St. Louis

Graybar Electric Co. (St. Louis): Mike Dumas is now district vice president in Phoenix and Rich Birkett has been appointed district vice president in St. Louis, effective Feb. 1. Dumas has served as St. Louis district vice president the past four years and joined the company 27 years ago as a management trainee in Dallas. He advanced through various financial roles early in his career and later served as strategic account manager and director, corporate accounts. He was promoted to vice president, comm/data in 2005 and was appointed to his current role in 2009. Mike has a BA in business administration from Tarleton State University.

Dumas will be replaced as St. Louis district vice president by Rich Birkett, who has served as director, finance, in Graybar’s California District since 2003. Birkett joined the company more than 33 years ago as a financial student in Los Angeles and has advanced through the finance organization in the California District.  He has a bachelor’s degree in marketing management from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

Omni Cable (West Chester, Pa.): Dominic J. Pileggi is now on the company’s  board of directors. Pileggi recently retired from Thomas & Betts Corp., Memphis, where he had been chairman since January 2006. Before being named chairman, he was president of T&B’s electrical products division, then chief operating officer, then chief executive officer. Pileggi also serves on the boards at ViaSystems and Acuity Brands.  Pileggi will serve on Omni Cable’s compensation committee and will serve as lead director of its board.

Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.):  Matt Barrett has been promoted from national account manager to Central Region manager. He will report directly to Terry Stevens, the company’s V.P. of sales for its North American Electrical Division. He earned a BS in marketing from Northern Illinois University and an MBA at Cardinal Stritch University.

Littelfuse Inc. (Chicago):  David Heinzmann was promoted to COO from his previous role as V.P. of global operations. All of the Littelfuse business unit VPs will report directly to Heinzmann. In addition, Heinzmann will retain responsibility for the global operations of Littelfuse. He began his career at the company in 1985. Littelfuse also announced that two of its existing senior executive officers, Philip Franklin and Ryan Stafford, have been promoted to senior V.P. and CFO and senior V.P. and chief legal and human resources officer, respectively.

KNIPEX Tools LP (Arlington Heights, Ill.):  Michelle Devenny has been promoted to market development, automotive channel.  In her new role, Devenny is responsible for product training, sales development and marketing for KNIPEX Tools’ automotive channel. Devenny previously worked as sales and marketing associate for North America and brings nearly 10 years of sales and marketing experience to her new position. Prior to joining KNIPEX Tools in 2012, Devenny worked for Dowd Marketing. She earned a BA  from Illinois State University.

Metro Wire & Cable (Iowa City, Iowa):  Nathan Lovich is now a sales consultant with the company at its Iowa City, Iowa, location. He comes to Metro Wire & Cable from the greater Aspen Valley, Colo., area where he was a sales specialist with Ensignal Wireless. He is originally from the Iowa City area and will work with electrical contractors, fire and security companies, utilities, OEMs and other customer bases in the greater Midwest.

Protective Industrial Products, Inc. (PIP) (Latham, N.Y.):  This manufacturer of personal protection clothing for the jobsite recently announced several new hires and promotions. Gary Schug joins the company as product specialist and will work with customers in Illinois and Wisconsin. Since 1997, he has held positions with Grainger, Kimberly Clark, Wells Lamont and Craftsman’s Tool Division of Sears. Kurt Matejka is the new safety eyewear product manager.  He comes to PIP with nearly 10 years of experience in eyewear. Promotions at the company include the appointment of Joe Milot III as senior product manager, hand protection; Chris Barrington’s promotion to regional sales manager, PPE Specialist; and Gary Klee’s move to product manager, Above-the-Neck.

PIP also announced two new field sales representatives from an agency-partner, Process Marketing Group, a rep for safety products in the Midwest. Jim Wojcikiewcz will be responsible for the industrial channel in Illinois and Dan Kelley will be responsible for the industrial, construction and electrical channels in Wisconsin.