Elemental LED (Emeryville CA): Thomas Howe, a seasoned lighting industry executive, was named V.P. of sales. Howe has been with Elemental LED for almost two years managing its Business Solutions division sales. Now he will be responsible for both Diode LED and Business Solutions sales divisions.
Diode LED is the manufacturing and wholesale division that provides linear, task and accent LED lighting solutions for both commercial and residential applications, while Business Solutions offers consulting, design, and engineering of large-scale LED lighting solutions for clients in retail and hospitality as well as display fabricators.
Kaman Distribution Group (Bloomfield, CT): Jeff Ames is the company’s new vice president and general manager of its Automation platform. Ames joins the company from Eaton Corp.’s Notification business and will report to Steve Smidler, Kaman Distribution Group’s president. His more than 25 years of experience in engineered products and systems businesses, with roles spanning commercial, technical, and operational responsibilities, includes 17 years at Eaton including roles as business unit manager for Eaton’s Wright Line business. Prior to Eaton, Jeff held positions at Schneider Electric’s industrial controls business in various commercial and technical roles and at International Business Machines. Ames earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Marist College. He resides near Worcester, MA and will be based in the Kaman Automation facility in Franklin, MA.
Halco Lighting Technologies (Norcross, GA): The manufacturer of LED lamp, ballast and luminaire solutions appointed Bart Mei as senior vice president, Supply Chain Operations. Mei will assume global leadership of the Halco Lighting supply chain, supplier management, and distribution operations.
Mei comes to Halco from Feit Electric where he was the vice president, global supply chain, for the past two years overseeing their global supply operations in both the U.S. and Asia. Before that, he worked for Acuity Brands as their director, global sourcing for over four years. Before joining Acuity, he held various leadership roles in China in the sourcing and manufacturing field.
Mei will report to Fawaz Khalil, president and chief executive officer of Halco Lighting. Mei has a Bachelor of Engineering in Textile Engineering from Zhongyuan University of Technology.
NSi Industries (Huntersville, NC): Bill Mueller recently joined NSi as digital content manager. He comes to NSi Industries with experience providing visual and digital content in finance and cable television industries. He has technical experience with graphic design, content management and video editing. Mueller will report to Pam Erickson, NSi’s executive vice president of marketing and business development.
Novinium (Kent, WA): This supplier of underground electrical cable rejuvenation products to electric utilities hired Branko Horvat as director of new product development. Horvat will have direct P&L responsibility for the PreVent manhole event prevention product acting as technical program manager including developing partnerships, licensing opportunities and developing future product improvements and solutions both domestically and internationally for the company.
Horvat has a BS in Mechanical Engineering as well as an MBA and has spent the last 25 years in the mobile hydraulics industry in sales, marketing and engineering positions.
Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY): Professor Mariana G. Figueiro, Ph.D., was named director of the Lighting Research Center (LRC). Figueiro has served as the center’s acting director over the past year. Figueiro succeeds Mark Rea, LRC director since 1988. Rea will continue as professor of architecture and cognitive sciences in the School of Architecture.
Figueiro has been with the LRC for 21 years, where she started as a graduate student in the LRC’s M.S. in Lighting program. She continued as a staff scientist at the Lighting Research Institute and in 2004 obtained her Ph.D. from Rensselaer. In 2006, she was offered a tenure-track position as an assistant professor and in 2014, was promoted to full professor. She has served as LRC Light and Health Program Director since 1999.