Electrical People: Cook named president of Sonepar USA

Sonepar USA (Philadelphia): Halsey Cook joined the Sonepar North America senior management team as the president of Sonepar USA earlier this week. Cook will have complete responsibility for all aspects of the U.S. business unit. His most recent experience has been with Legrand North America, where for the past seven years he was president of the Electrical Wiring Systems Division for North America. Prior to joining Legrand, Cook spent 16 years with Carrier, a division of United Technologies Corp.  He was president of Carrier’s Residential and Light Commercial Systems unit. Dave Gabriel, the president and CEO of Sonepar North America, had been handling the role of Sonepar USA president after the former executive in that post, Paul Klasing, left the company. 

DDI System (Sandy Hook, Conn.): ERP industry veteran Aung Latt has been appointed V.P. of corporate strategy working directly with Adam Waller, DDI System’s president and founder. Latt has been in the distribution industry for over 20 years, most recently as a strategic account executive for Infor.  Prior to that, Latt held multiple roles within the Prophet 21/Activant/Epicor organizations. In his new role with DDI System, Latt will be the primary contact for Johnstone Supply members converting from the DDI-DSPro Software over to DDI’s Inform Software solution.  He will also have a focus on increasing DDI System’s footprint within the HVAC and industrial markets.

NSi (Huntersville, N.C.): Pamela Erickson is the company’s new executive V.P. of marketing and business development, with responsibility for marketing and product management as well as several strategic accounts. Pam joins NSi after several years as V.P. of marketing for the U.S. Electrical Division at Affiliated Distributors. Prior to that, she was director of marketing for Milbank Manufacturing Supply in Kansas City, Mo.

In other news at NSi, Tom Wallace is now the new executive V.P. of sales, reporting to Randall Parian, the company’s president. He was most recently director of electrical sales of the New York District for Graybar. During his 26 years in the electrical industry, he  also spent 24 with Panduit Corp.

Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures (Belding, Mich.): Bill Dunn has been hired as national sales manager. He brings more than 20 years of experience to Stahlin and was most recently employed with Thomas and Betts Corp. as a regional specification manager. Dunn earned his MBA in international business from Cornerstone University and a BA in business from Adrian College.

Omni Cable (West Chester, Pa.): Jill Schadler is now leading the company’s Human Resource department and working with the senior leadership team to align human resource objectives with the company’s strategic initiatives. She earned her MBA in Human Resources from the University of Phoenix. In other Omni news, Matt Brady is now director of marketing. He has been with Omni Cable as a member of the marketing team for six years. Brady received his degree in business logistics from Penn State University. Prior to joining Omni Cable, Brady ran his own business for four years.

Universal Lighting Technologies (Nashville, Tenn.): Salvatore Manganaro has joined the Universal team as the new regional distribution sales manager for the Northeast territory of the United States. He joins Universal with more than a decade of experience in the electrical industry. Since graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1996, he served in various regional and national management roles, including specialized vertical market growth roles. In his new role, Manganaro will be responsible for growing the Northeast distribution channel by managing and supporting agents and distributors like Gemco, Osterman and Yusen.

Service Wire (Culloden, West Virginia): This wire and cable specialists recently announced several key personnel changes. Bruce Baldwin, a 34-year industry veteran, is now the manager of business development for the northern Midwest region. Derek Jones will now handle accounts in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Charlotte, N.C. He has extensive training in the manufacturing processes and sales protocols, as well as seven years experience in sales and customer service. In Houston, Drew Shenk has retired from the company after 25 years. Moving forward, Randy Barrett will be the regional sales manager for the South Central U.S. Randy has over 19 years of experience in the electrical market. Justin Fast is now the business development manager for the company and will be servicing accounts within the South Central region.

The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) (St. Louis): NAED has announced its new Board of Directors for 2014-2015, including the appointment of Maureen Barsema as the 2014-2015 NAED chair. She is vice president, Business Administration, for the Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based City Revere Electric Supply.

She succeeds Sandra Rosecrans, president and CEO of Syracuse, N.Y.-based City Electric, and will be followed in 2015 by Glenn Goedecke, executive vice president, Business Development, of Birmingham, Ala.-based Mayer Electric Supply, who was named board chair-elect.

Along with Barsema, Rosencrans and Goedecke, other members of the Board of Directors for the 2014-2015 term are: Scott O’Day, Eastern Region V.P., Controller Service & Sales Co.; George Vorwick, Eastern Region V.P. -elect, United Electric Supply; Marc Malvizzi, Eastern Region Past V.P., Eastern Penn Supply Co.; Kelly Vliet, South Central Region V.P., Medler Electric Co.; Daniel Dungan, South Central Region V.P. -elect, Springfield Electric Supply; Shaker Brock, South Central Region Past Vice President, Electric Supply Inc.; Jeffrey Stroin, Western Region V.P.; John Maltby, Western Region V.P. -elect, Maltby Electric Supply; and David Maxwell and Western Region Past V.P. Graybar, Dublin, Calif.

Other volunteer board members include Larry Stern, NAED Foundation Chair, Standard Electric Supply Co.; Bill Squires, NAED Foundation Chair-elect, SMC; John Cain, NAED Finance Committee Chair, Wiseway Supply; James W. Smith, IDEA Representative, Mayer Electric Supply; Martin Burbridge, Member-at-large, Crescent Electric Supply; Fil Cerminara, Member-at-large, F&M Electric Supply; John Hardy, Member-at-large, CapitalTristate; Rocklan E. Lawrence, Member-at-large, National Electric Supply Co. Ken Rogers, Member-at-large, Ideal Electrical Supply; David Rosenstein, Member-at-large, ConneXion; John Selldorff, Member-at-large, Sonepar USA; and Jay Tupa, LEAD Committee Chair, Dakota Supply Group.