Electrical People: New CFO for Summit and More

Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque, N.M.): Thomas Klemp is now CFO and V.P. of finance for the company. He was recently the V.P. of finance and administration for a division of Layne Christensen, a global water management, construction, and drilling company, where he developed operational efficiencies and oversaw global compliance programs. Klemp will be based out of Summit’s Houston offices. He has a master’s degree in finance from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s in finance and accounting from Babson College.

Shat-R-Shield Inc. (Salisbury, N.C.): The company expanded its sales force with the hire of Scott Rindler as Central Regional manager and the appointment of Jim Radi as director of national accounts and specification sales. Rindler was previously LED lighting specialist at Dickman Supply in Ohio, where he worked in project management and specification sales, prepared photometric layouts and did energy efficiency lighting audits. His territory at Shat-R-Shield will cover a large portion of the Midwest, including Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Radi will provide hands-on support to key customers.

Lex Products Corp. (Shelton, Conn.): The company recently appointed Donald Kneir as president.  He comes to Lex Products Corp. from a career in manufacturing including his recent role as CEO/president of Cable Corp of America, a manufacturer of power and control cable for military and commercial markets. Prior to his time at CCA, Kneir was president or general manager of several manufacturing companies ranging in size from $50 million to $500 million. Lex Products Corp. is a manufacturer of power distribution and control systems for end-use markets such as entertainment, industrial and the military.

In other news at Lex Products, Jack Hogarth is now product manager of industrial and military products. He joined Lex in November 2009 as an inside sales representative for the Midwest territory. He also filled several inside positions and served as outside sales representative for the Midwest in 2012.  Before coming to Lex, Hogarth worked at Hubbell as a technical service representative where he provided assistance to distributors, end users, architects and specification engineers. 

Universal Lighting Technologies (Nashville): The company added lighting industry veteran Stu Sumner to the Universal team as the new V.P. of sales for the West Coast region of the United States.  With nearly 20 years of lighting industry experience, Sumner joins the Universal team with extensive sales management experience in various roles. He previously served in leadership positions with LSI Industries, Philips Day-Brite, Hubbell Lighting, Cooper Lighting and Osram Sylvania.

In his new role, Sumner will develop, facilitate and optimize the sales strategy for Universal’s LED fixtures and comprehensive lighting products. He will provide support to agents, distributors and end users in the region and will report to Joseph Damiani, executive V.P. of sales.  Sumner currently resides in Bend, Oregon, but plans to relocate to the Southern California area.

Anord Critical Power Inc. (Sandston, Va.): This provider of critical-power infrastructure to the global data center industry, appointed Graham Carr as U.S. Western regional sales manager and Rick Wright as plant manager at Sandston headquarters. Carr was initially based in the company’s manufacturing facility in Ireland where he contributed to electrical design and served as an account manager in the company’s London office.  Carr holds a BE and product design engineering degree from DKIT and Diploma in electronic design. Wright will leverage his 16 years of experience in the power protection/distribution industry to oversee the company’s new manufacturing center in Sandston. Prior to Anord, Wright worked at United Power Corp. as production manager and PDI Corp. as director of manufacturing.

Schurter Inc. (Santa Rosa, Calif.): Schurter will change management effective July 1. Bruno Schurter, president and CEO will retire after 33 years of heading up the privately held company, which is a subsidiary of Schurter Holding AG, founded in 1933 in Lucerne, Switzerland. Diane Cupples, V.P. of marketing, will assume the position of chairwoman of the board, and Leonard Overholser, V.P. of sales, will take over as president and CEO. Cupples has been with the company since 1983 and Overholser has been with the company for nearly 20 years. Schurter is a manufacturer of circuit protection, connectors, switches and EMC products to the electronic and electrical industries worldwide.

Buckles-Smith ( San Jose, Calif.): The company has hired several summer interns this year.  Charles Ojoko and Nathan Gottheil will be assisting the marketing team, while Parth Sukhadia and the returning Zach Nobriga will be focusing on business development with the sales team. These bright and hardworking students are all in their senior year. Parth, Charles and Nathan are attending San Jose State University and Zach  is finishing his last semester at Purdue. Charles will be graduating with his BA in business marketing and will be assisting as a marketing projects intern. Nathan will also be graduating with his BA in management information systems and will be interning as a pricing analyst. Parth is graduating with an Industrial and Systems Engineering degree and will be working alongside Buckles-Smith’s services specialist. Zach will be receiving his BA in economics with a management concentration and minor in political science.