Electrical People: Nelson to lead industrial sales for Ideal and other moves

US Lamp Inc. (Green Bay, Wis.): Randall Johnson, president, was elected for a one-year term as a director of the National Association Independent Lighting Distributors (NAILD) at the association’s recent 37th annual conference and trade show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,  April 6-9.  Johnson will serve the NAILD board on the education committee. He previously served a seven-year term on the board, including the presidency during 1995-96. He also served several years ago on a one year term, as past president. The NAILD board consists of lighting distributor and manufacturer members from throughout the United States.

Appleton Group/ Emerson Industrial Automation (Rosemont, Ill.): Shriram Pathak has been promoted to director of operations for Heating Cable Systems. Represented by Appleton Group’s EasyHeat  and Nelson Heat Trace brands, Heating Cable Systems manufactures residential, commercial and industrial heating solutions designed to protect properties against cold-related problems. Pathak came to Emerson in 2000 as a senior development  engineer and has taken on increasing responsibilities throughout the years.

For the past six years, Pathak has managed the Heating Cable Systems plant in East Granby, Conn., where SR (self-regulating) trace heating cables are manufactured. In his new role of director of operations, Pathak will continue to manage that facility, along with working with management teams at Heating Cable Systems plants in Stephenville, and Houston, Texas, and in Atizapan, Mexico, to coordinate planning and manufacturing of the complete line of heating cable products. He will report directly to Andy Schwegel, V.P./general manager of SolaHD & Heating Cable Systems. 

Pathak earned an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2006, a masters of chemical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in 1998, and a B.S. of chemical engineering at L.D. College of Engineering in Ahmedabad, India in 1996.

In other news at Appleton, Mike Winter, national sales manager of Commercial Products for its EasyHeat brand, has been appointed the 2014 chairman of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) Manufacturers Council. As chairman, Winter will preside over a 12-person group that acts on behalf of associate NAED manufacturers, assuring effective communications between suppliers, electrical distributors and the NAED.

Border State Electric (Fargo, N.D.): Tammy Miller, CEO, has received the National Association of Electrical Distributors’ (NAED) Arthur W. Hooper Achievement Award, the association’s highest honor. This award is presented to an individual who has had an exceptional career in distribution. Miller is the first woman to receive this prestigious award. Miller joined Border States as the accounting manager in 1991. Her positions at the corporate office included corporate controller, V.P. finance, senior V.P. and executive V.P. She assumed general management responsibilities for the Southwest Region in 2003, was named president in 2005, and CEO in 2006. In addition to winning several other NAED honors, Miller was awarded the YWCA Woman of the Year in Business Award in 2009; two distinguished alumni awards from Minnesota State University Moorhead; and serves on the board of directors for Affiliated Distributors, the Elite Distributors Insurance Captive (EDIC), the Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation and Starion Financial.

Ideal Industries (Sycamore, Ill.): The company has appointed Jim Nelson as its new director of industrial sales. He will manage strategic business partnerships for Ideal and oversee both the acquisition of new accounts and the growth of existing business. Additionally, he will be responsible for the management and development of the industrial sales team, while building awareness of the Ideal brand. He will report directly to Jeff Kellermann, Ideal Tool Group V.P./general manager.

Nelson previously served in a variety of sales management positions of increasing responsibilities within Newell Rubbermaid, most recently as national sales manager for the Rubbermaid Commercial Products group. While with Newell Rubbermaid, Nelson solidified a team that profitably grew programs with large distribution partners including Grainger, McMaster Carr, Uline and Edward Don and Co. Before working with Newell Rubbermaid, Nelson worked for Porter Cable and Delta Corp. Nelson is a graduate of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Buckles-Smith (San Jose, Calif.): Craig Kelsey is retiring from his position as purchasing manager at Buckles-Smith at the end of May. Kelsey has been part of the electrical industry for over 50 years and was one of three original employees of Electrical Materials Inc. (EMI), established in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1960. By 1967 Craig became a part owner of EMI and then sole owner in 1983. EMI was an original member of the Western Independent Electrical Distributors (WEID) buying/marketing group. He served on the board of WEID when it merged to become IMARK, and then on IMARK’s board of directors. He also served in several positions with NAED.

EMI was acquired by Buckles-Smith in San Jose, Calif., in 2002, and Kelsey has spent the last 10 years affiliated with Buckles-Smith. After retirement he will be moving to Kansas to be closer to his family. He is looking forward to working on his golf swing.