People

Oct. 21, 2011
Applied Industrial Technologies (Cleveland): Electrical industry veteran Neil Schrimsher will become CEO of this industrial distributor effective Oct.

Applied Industrial Technologies (Cleveland): Electrical industry veteran Neil Schrimsher will become CEO of this industrial distributor effective Oct. 25, immediately following the company's annual shareholder meeting, at which time he will also be appointed to the board of directors. Schrimsher will succeed David Pugh, who previously announced he would retire and step down from the board.

Schrimsher was most recently executive V.P. of Cooper Industries, where he led multiple businesses in Cooper's Electrical Products Group and headed numerous domestic and international growth initiatives. Prior to joining Cooper in 2006 as president of Cooper Lighting, he worked in Atlanta for Siemens Energy & Automation as V.P. of the company's, Residential Infrastructure Division (2001-2003), and V.P. of Power Distribution & Controls (2003-2006).

He began his career at GE in 1984 and rose through a succession of positions in GE Lighting, including national sales manager and general manager of Commercial & Industrial Marketing. Schrimsher holds an MBA from John Carroll University and a BS in business administration (marketing) from the University of Tennessee.

With approximately 470 facilities and 4,600 employee associates across North America, Applied Industrial Technologies is an industrial distributor that offers more than 4 million parts critical to the operations of MRO and OEM customers in virtually every industry.

Affiliated Distributors (Wayne, Pa.): At the recent 2011 A-D Electrical Division North American Meeting in Las Vegas, David Weisberg, A-D's founder, was honored by his son, Bill Weisberg, in a tribute to the group's 30th anniversary. A-D said Weisberg was honored for “his leadership, vision and persistence in the face of overwhelming obstacles in helping independent electrical distributors successfully compete in the electrical industry.”

Allied Wire and Cable (Collegeville, Pa.): Paul Lawruk is the newest account representative at Allied's headquarters; Kristy Ventura has joined the staff of the company's Las Vegas location; and Ryan Baldinelli is now working at Allied's branch in Merrimack, N.H. Lawruk began his career in the wire and cable industry at Omni Cable, where he worked as an account manager. Ventura has a highly industrial background with previous positions at Anacapa Micro Products, R&B Welding and Grainger. Baldinelli is a 2011 graduate of Castleton State College in Vermont, where he studied business and marketing.

BICSI (Tampa, Fla.): The VDV trade association has elected several new members to its 2012-13 board of directors: Michael Collins, AT&T, Houston, Texas, will serve as president-elect; Brian Ensign, Legrand/Ortronics, York, Penn., is treasurer; Brendan “Greg” Sherry, Datacenter Dynamics, Havering-atte-Bower (London), United Kingdom, is European region director; Christy Miller, BCL Enterprises, Inc., West Chester, Ohio, is U.S. North-Central Region director; and Carol Everett Oliver, Berk-Tek, Lancaster, Penn., is Northeast Region director.