Wheatland Tube Co. (Sharon, Pa.): Michael Kreger has been named South Central regional sales manager, Electrical Division. He has 30 years of industry experience and most recently worked for Cooper Wiring Devices. At Wheatland Tube, he will be responsible for managing the company’s network of sales agents throughout the South Central United States.
Schreder Lighting (Addison, Ill.): Daniel Horvath has been appointed sales engineer. In his new position, Horvath will coordinate the engineering of lighting products for special and custom applications and performance. Prior to joining Schreder, Horvath worked at Intelligent Loss Prevention (ILP) a division of Southern Imperial, and as engineering/project manager for Sennco Solutions.
National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) (Rosslyn, Va.): President and CEO Evan Gaddis is serving on the Federal Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. The committee will advise the Secretary of Commerce on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the competitiveness of U.S. supply chains including programs and policies to expand U.S. exports of goods, services, and technology in accordance with applicable U.S. regulations. This work will support efforts to expand U.S. exports of goods and services and create economic opportunities for American businesses and American workers.
French Gerleman (St. Louis): Mike Stanfill has been appointed president, taking over for William French who will become CEO. Stanfill, previously V.P. of industrial and commercial sales, brings more than 24 years of experience in engineering, management and executive positions in manufacturing and wholesale distribution.
Stanfill earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois. Prior to being named president, he held several positions in his 18-year tenure at French Gerleman including product management, Tech Center management and two divisional sales V.P. roles. Before coming to French Gerleman, Stanfill worked in engineering, R&D and product management at Unilever and Everest & Jennings. He currently serves as a member of Rockwell Automation’s Horizontal Distributor Advisory Council, is a past director on the Electrical Board of Missouri and Illinois ,and has served on advisory councils for other electrical manufacturers.
In other news at French Gerleman, the company announced the promotion of Steve French to V.P. of operations; Adam Ruebsam to V.P. of commercial and industrial sales; Mike Kelsch to V.P. of supply division; and the hiring of Jim Wojkovich as V.P. of construction sales. A fifth-generation family-owner, French began working full-time with the company in 2001 after earning a B.S. degree in business management from Samford University.
As V.P. of commercial and industrial sales, Ruebsam will be responsible for automation and electrical supply division sales in St. Louis and Washington, Mo. Before joining French Gerleman, Ruebsam spent nearly 10 years with Rockwell Automation serving in various sales engineer roles in Omaha, Neb., and St. Louis. A 2000 graduate of the University of Missouri, Columbia, he earned a B.S. degree in industrial engineering. Ruebsam has served on the St. Louis Science Center’s advisory committee for electric vehicles and is a frequent speaker on clean energy topics including electric-vehicle charging stations.
Kelsch will focus his efforts as V.P. of supply division on growing electrical supply and safety sales in the St. Louis and Washington, Mo., markets. Prior to his promotion, he was a division sales manager for nearly eight years.
Wojkovich brings more than 30 years of electrical distribution experience to French Gerleman. As V.P. of construction sales, he will focus his team on growing sales to electrical contractors in the St. Louis and Washington, Mo., branches. He earned a B.S. degree in business and political science from Franklin College in 1979. Wojkovich spent the last seven years serving as branch manager, area manager and general manager for a national electrical distributor in Florida.
Leviton Manufacturing Co. (Melville, N.Y.): Rob Spragis has been promoted to region sales manager for its Upper Midwest sales region. Spragis has been with Leviton since 2005 and has covered electrical distribution in the greater Philadelphia market. He was names as the company’s Vendor Sales Person of the Year by distributors in the Philadelphia market, and in 2010 was Leviton’s National Sales Person of the Year. Spragis’ experience also includes work in the construction and HVAC industries.
Venture Lighting International (Solon, Ohio): Tim Gehling is now regional sales manager for the company’s East Coast territory. Gehling joins Venture with 30 years of experience in sales, specifying and energy conservation working with various fixture, lamp and ballast manufacturer including Osram Sylvania, LSI and Universal Ballasts. Gehling has a BS Degree in chemical engineering from University of New Hampshire.
Halco Lighting Technologies (Norcross, Ga.): Allyson Brooks has been hired as graphic designer. She will be reporting to Jill Mungovan, director of marketing and will be contributing to the company’s print and web design. Brooks has 20 years of graphic design experience and holds a BFA in graphic communication from Kennesaw State University and an AA degree in visual communication from the Art Institute of Atlanta.