People

Feb. 10, 2012
WESCO (Pittsburgh, Pa.): Richard Heyse is no longer V.P, CFO, for the company. Stephen Van Oss, who had previously served as WESCO's CFO, has been appointed

WESCO (Pittsburgh, Pa.): Richard Heyse is no longer V.P, CFO, for the company. Stephen Van Oss, who had previously served as WESCO's CFO, has been appointed as interim CFO in addition to his current responsibilities as senior V.P., COO. Van Oss had served as WESCO's CFO from 2000 to 2009 and will serve in this role on an interim basis while WESCO engages in a search to replace Heyse, who is expected to serve as a consultant to WESCO on transitional matters over the next few months.

Border States Electric (Fargo, N.D.): Jay Esler has been named South Central Region business development manager. He will participate on the company's South Central Region management team and provide direction for new and expanded business opportunities. The company's South Central region consists of 16 branch locations in New Mexico and Texas. Esler has more than 25 years of experience in the electrical and telecommunications industries. His previous management posts include director of datacom sales for Crescent Electric Supply; division sales manager for Rexel in Dallas; and district sales manager for Panduit in Denver and Houston.

Schneider Electric (Palatine, Ill.): Mary Ramsey is now senior V.P. of Schneider Electric's U.S. Industry Business, one of the five core U.S. businesses of the $26 billion multi-national corporation. She replaces former U.S. Industry Business senior V.P. Andy Gravitt, who announced his retirement effective Feb. 1 after nearly 20 years with Schneider Electric. Ramsey will report directly to Clemens Blum, Schneider's global industry business executive V.P., and will be responsible for spearheading the overall sales and growth strategy of the business.

She previously served as the senior V.P. of sales of Schneider Electric's Europe Industry Business. Ramsey first joined the company while serving at Pro-face America, which was acquired by Schneider Electric in 2004, as the general manager and V.P. of sales for North and South America. With more than 20 years of experience in industrial automation, Ramsey has held various positions in sales, marketing and business development at UBS Financial Services, Matrikon International, Instrinsyc, Intellution, GE Fanuc - Industrial Automation Division and Cincinnati Electrosystems, among others. Ramsey earned a B.A. in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky and an MBA from the Loyola University Graduate School of Management in Chicago.

GE Energy's Industrial Solutions (Montreal, Quebec): Adrian Thomas is now regional sales leader for Canada, where he will have overall responsibility for sales of GE Energy's electrical distribution products and services, including switchboards and panel boards, uninterruptible power supplies, metering products, circuit breakers, motor controls and capacitors, as well as electric-vehicle supply equipment. Thomas began his career at GE Canada as a large-motors designer in Peterborough, and also worked in a marketing role for GE Energy in Montreal that featured a combination of sales and commercial operations. He has also held various positions with TMEIC, an industrial systems, drive and motor manufacturer, in Roanoke, Va., where he developed international sales experience covering growing markets in Taiwan, India and North America. Thomas is a graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, with a bachelor of science in engineering.