People Dec. 9, 2005

Dec. 7, 2005
The Schneider Electric North American Operating Division has appointed Andy Gravitt vice president of industrial automation and control.

Schneider Electric (Palatine, Ill.): The Schneider Electric North American Operating Division has appointed Andy Gravitt vice president of industrial automation and control. Gravitt has 13 years of experience with Schneider Electric’s North American Operating Division. He most recently served as vice president of customer operations and process improvement.

Tyco Electrical and Metal Products (Harvey, Ill.): Roger Vaught was recently promoted to vice president of marketing for the electrical division of Tyco Electrical and Metal Products. Vaught will be responsible for overseeing all worldwide marketing efforts for Tyco Electrical brands, including Allied Tube & Conduit, AFC Cable Systems, Power-Strut, and TJ Cope. Vaught joined the Tyco organization in 2003 as director of sales and marketing, and has been in the electrical industry since 1982.

NorthEast Electrical/Eagle Electric Supply (Canton, Mass.): Don Block has been appointed president. Most recently, Block was vice president of sales with Ralph Pill Electric Supply. Prior, Block was with Graybar Electric for 32 years, most recently as vice president-New England. NorthEast Electrical/Eagle Electric Supply is a division of Sonepar USA.

Arlington Industries (Scranton, Pa.): Joe Carroll has been appointed Midwest regional sales manager. Most recently, he was vice president of sales and marketing for Milbank Manufacturing Co.

Rexel Inc. (Dallas): Rexel has restructured product management positions in its Dallas corporate office. Robert Stroescu is now product manager - lighting. He joined Rexel’s marketing department in 2000 as a market analyst and most recently was product manager for datacom. He succeeds Karl Williams, who was promoted from to director of product management. Erynn Mullinax Keenen has been appointed product manager - datacom. Keenen came to Rexel in 1992, taking a position at its Kansas City branch. She transferred to Dallas in 1999, where she has worked in various datacom positions. Keenen and Stroescu are two of the company’s five product managers; all report to Williams at Rexel’s Dallas national headquarters.

B & K Electric Wholesale (City of Industry, Calif.): B & K has announced the following appointments to its executive team: Mike Blanchard has been named senior vice president; Todd Brown was named regional vice president - Rockwell Division; and Todd Sprague has been appointed regional vice president - Square Division.

Klein Tools (Chicago): With 20 years of experience at Klein Tools, David Tawney has been promoted to Western regional sales manager. The region includes California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Michael Canada has been promoted to regional sales manager, Texas region. Previously, he was a national accounts manager and a sales manager for the South Central region. Tawney and Canada are each responsible for training, coaching and supporting district managers in their respective regions as well as developing and enhancing relationships with distributors and end users.

3M Co. (St. Paul, Minn.): George W. Buckley has been elected chairman, president and chief executive officer, succeeding interim chairman and CEO Robert S. Morrison, who has led the company since July 1, 2005. Buckley comes to 3M from Brunswick Corp. where he served as chairman and chief executive officer since June 2000.

American Power Conversion (APC, Kingston, R.I.): Tom Goldman has been appointed vice president, global sales. Most recently, he was president and chief executive officer of NetBotz Inc., which APC acquired in October 2005. Goldman succeeds Ed Bednarcik, who is leaving APC to pursue other opportunities.