People on the Move - July 10 , 2020

Crawford Electric / Sonepar (Houston): Mark Ganucheau (in photo above) will join Crawford Electric’s executive team as vice president of finance. The Crawford press release said he has significant expertise in supply chain management and process improvement. Ganucheau is a graduate of Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Dakota Supply Group (DSG) (Plymouth, MN): The company recently named Jared Winterboer, Cameron Pederson, Brian Eubanks, Brandon Messer, Jason Hammers, Justin Nelson and Ernie Companion as new regional sales managers.

Jared Winterboer is a new addition to DSG’s team and will focus on the electrical segment throughout the South Dakota region, including branches in Aberdeen, Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City and Sioux Falls. Prior to joining DSG, Winterboer held a variety of roles in electrical distribution, most recently as branch manager in South Dakota for a large electrical distributor.

Cameron Pederson has been a member of DSG’s team for 19 years in several roles and will now oversee sales activities across its North Dakota region, including branches in Bismarck, Dickinson, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Williston. Prior to this promotion, Pederson was account manager for DSG’s Fargo, ND, location.

Brian Eubanks has held a variety of progressive roles within DSG for 29 years and will now lead sales activities throughout its Wisconsin region with branches in La Crosse, Plover, Rice Lake, Sheboygan and Winona, MN. Eubanks was an account manager for DSG’s La Crosse, WI, location before his promotion.

Brandon Messer has held a variety of roles at Dakota Electric Supply since starting as an intern 17 years ago and will now lead the electrical sales activities throughout the Minnesota region with branches in Alexandria, Austin, Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Ham Lake, Monticello, Oakdale, Plymouth, Rochester and St Paul. Before this promotion, Messer was an account manager in the Twin Cities metro market.

Jason Hammers has been with DSG for seven years. Prior to that, he held a variety of roles with mechanical contractors. Hammers will now focus on sales activities for the mechanical segment throughout the South Dakota region, including branches in Aberdeen, Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City and Sioux Falls. Previous to his promotion, Hammers was an account manager for DSG’s Sioux Falls, SD business.

Justin Nelson is a new addition to DSG’s team and will now lead sales activities for its Montana region, including branches in Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell and Missoula. Prior to joining DSG, Nelson gained experience from a variety of roles in the mechanical industry, most recently as part of the selling team for a manufacturers’ rep firm based in Montana.

Ernie Companion is also new to DSG and will now lead mechanical selling activities throughout the Minnesota region with branches in Alexandria, Austin, Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Ham Lake, Monticello, Oakdale, Plymouth, Rochester and St. Paul. Most recently he was director of business development for a global provider of critical communications systems.

Panasonic Lighting Americas, Inc. (PTLA) (Nashville, TN): The parent company for Douglas Lighting Controls and Universal Lighting Technologies recently announced the promotion of Ty Anderson to president. Since 2009, Anderson helped position PLTA as a fully integrated solutions company featuring Internet of Things (IoT), LED drivers, LED modules and retrofit products. The Panasonic press release said he also improved the PLTA supply chain to create shorter lead time capabilities.

Most recently, Anderson served as senior vice president of operations and vice president of sourcing and new product operations. Before joining PTLA, Anderson worked for Cooper Lighting and Schneider Electric.

Since joining PLTA, Anderson helped manage the installation of Panasonic equipment to exceed manufacturing, testing and reliability requirements for LED products. With this experience, Anderson will lead the PLTA vision to accelerate the digital transition with enabled end-to-end lighting solutions.

OmniCable (West Chester, PA): Victor Lewis has been promoted to Boston regional manager. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations and leadership of OmniCable’s Boston branch, which services electrical distributors in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Lewis brings more than five years of electrical distribution positions and has held several positions as the company, most recently as Boston senior account manager.

ESL Vision (Salt Lake City): The  company aapointed Jerry Francis to the role of Midwestern regional manager. In this role, he will report to National Sales Manager Stephanie Reeves and oversee all sales efforts in the Midwest, including management of its rep team. He bring more than 35 years of industry experience and most recently served as Midwest regional for Eiko Ltd. Francis will be based out of De Soto, KS. 

Keystone Technologies (Philadelphia): Keystone recently announced the hire of Steve Schwartz as the ESCO territory manager for the Pacific Northwest, where he will handle select accounts throughout the country. He brings 25 years of experience in the lighting and energy space, where he most recently served as vice president of energy sales for Deco Lighting. He received a bachelor’s degree from California State University and an MFA from the University of California, Riverside.

Nora Lighting (Commerce, CA): Davis Chastain will oversee all Nora commercial sales and marketing activities throughout the West Coast, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, along with the upper Midwest. Chastain will be directing Nora’s reps in those regions, and will liaison with specifiers, electrical distributors and installers.

Fiber Optic Center (FOC) (New Bedford, MA): Richard (Rick) Tumminelli was appointed as the company’s fiber design and manufacturing consultant, and in-house expert on rare-earth doped optical fiber fabrication. He will join FOC’s perform fabrication consulting services team to work directly with manufacturers of specialty optical preforms and fibers on meeting specific customer applications and performance criteria.

 Tumminelli recently retired as director of engineering at the Coherent fiber site in Salem, NH, and has been working in the field of rare earth doped optical fiber for 40 years. Additionally, Tumminelli managed the specialty fiber group at JDS Uniphase and held positions in the optics group at Draper Laboratories. He is co-inventor of double-clad fiber laser pumping, has been granted 22 patents and has 20 publications in fiber laser and amplifiers.

OBITUARY

Joe Gross, 61, Gross Electric, Toledo, OH, passed away on June 3, according to a report on www.electricaltrends.com and his obituary in the Toledo Blade. According to the obituary, he is survived by his wife, Cary, and his children, Andrew, Emily, Jason; Poncho, his beloved German Shepherd; and his sisters Laurie Gross, Polly Collins (Dave Stroeh) and Marcia Miller. He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Marion Gross.

Gross Electric is one of the best-known family-owned electrical distributors in nation. Our condolences to Laurie and the rest of the Gross family.