People

Feb. 12, 2010
Rittal Corp. (Urbana, Ohio): Ken Fairleigh has joined the company to serve as president. Fairleigh has more than 25 years of experience in global sales

Rittal Corp. (Urbana, Ohio): Ken Fairleigh has joined the company to serve as president. Fairleigh has more than 25 years of experience in global sales management, marketing, distribution, and operations. Prior to joining Rittal, he held positions at General Electric, Square D and Fluke, and most recently served as vice president and general manager of Rexnord in the product service group.

At Rittal, Fairleigh will be responsible for all aspects of the business, including marketing, sales and manufacturing. He will be focused on improving the company's operations, client relations and product and service delivery.

Crescent Electric Supply Co. (East Dubuque, Ill.): Richard Schmid is now senior vice president. He started with the company in 1977 and held roles of increasing responsibility, including his previous position as vice president of marketing. Schmid remains a member of the company's board of directors. In other news at the company, Richard Cody was named V.P., supplier management. He has been with the company for five years and most recently served as vice president of sales.

Butler Supply Inc.(Fenton, Mo.): Bill Kuempel has been named CEO of Butler Supply, Inc. He has been part of the Butler Supply organization since 1984 and has previously served as branch manager, senior V.P., COO and president. He succeeds John Duda, who remains as chairman.

Emerson Electric (St. Louis): Frank Dellaquila is now senior V.P. and chief financial officer, succeeding Walter Galvin, who has served as CFO for 17 years. Galvin will remain as vice chairman, and Dellaquila will join the Office of the Chief Executive (OCE) and report to David Farr, chairman, CEO and president. Dellaquila has been a senior V.P. of finance and Emerson's controller since 2009. He has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Fordham University and a master's degree in business administration from Columbia University.

Dialight (Farmingdale, N.J.): Daniel Polito is now chief marketing officer. He brings more than 25 years of international marketing management experience to Dialight, including posts as president of the North American operations for Enfis Lighting, an LED lighting technology manufacturer based in the U.K.; chief marketing officer at Lamina Lighting; vice president of marketing at Environmental Lighting Concepts (ELC), and vice president of marketing at both Thomson/Reuters and Dun & Bradstreet Corp. He will oversee all areas of the company's marketing efforts targeting the industrial, commercial, hazardous location, and various infrastructure markets and will report directly to Dialight CEO Roy Burton.

Halco Lighting Technologies (Norcross, Ga.): Steve Syers is now senior sales manager - customer support. Syers will be reporting to Jim Coleman, V.P. of sales, and will assume overall responsibility for account representatives and customer service. Syers has a B.S. in business administration from Illinois State University and brings 19 years of experience in B2B sales and the service industry. Syers was previously president of Franchise Gator before the company was sold.

In other news at Halco, Jan McQuain is now national accounts manager. She reports to Jim Coleman and will be establishing a support system for specification sales between national end-user accounts and Halco's distribution network. McQuain attended Westbark College, is a member of the Atlanta Society of Training and Development, has obtained several certifications including TQM Certification for ISO-9001 and is High Performance Leadership Certified.

CN Robinson Lighting Supply Co. (Baltimore): John McIntyre has been promoted to V.P. He was previously director of construction sales and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Robroy Industries, Conduit Division (Gilmer, Texas): Bill Fisher has been appointed national sales manager. Prior to joining Robroy Industries, Fisher was with United Copper Industries (UCI), Denton, Texas, a manufacturer of copper building wire. While at UCI, he held several sales management posts. Fisher earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Tech University.

IDEA (Rosslyn, Va.): Michael Wentz, formerly of Activant Solutions, has joined the sales and marketing team as the national sales manager. He has more than 20 years of distribution and technology experience and has expertise in a variety of industries including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, industrial, medical, electronics, lighting, safety products, fasteners and food distribution.

Wentz also has helped hundreds of distributors develop technology plans to increase sales, improve customer service, and decrease operating expenses. He co-founded an early e-business venture that facilitated transaction cost reduction and information flow in the building trades supply chain. He is active with NAED, ALA, and ASA and has worked closely with industry marketing groups such as A-D and IMARK. Wentz has a B.A. in marketing and communications from Bloomsburg University.