Dakota Supply Group (Plymouth, MN): Chris Buelow (photo above) has joined Dakota Supply Group (DSG) as VP of sales and marketing. Buelow will oversee DSG’s sales and marketing functions across its entire footprint in this role. Before joining DSG, He spent the past 12 years in progressive leadership positions at Milbank Manufacturing, most recently as senior vice president of sales and marketing.
DSG is a 100% employee-owned company with over 750 employee-owners in 43 locations across six states and is ranked #55 on Electrical Wholesaling’s 2021 Top 150 ranking with $160.2 million in sales.
Buckles-Smith (Santa Clara, CA): Art Cook, CEO and chairman, announced that Nathan Lewis would join Buckles-Smith Electric as president. Lewis brings nearly 20 years of industry and operations experience. He previously worked for Werner Electric in Minneapolis, where he was responsible for quality, continuous improvement, purchasing, and operations as VP of operations, business transformation and customer experience.
Most recently, he was the VP of operations at OneSource Electric in San Diego. Lewis has a bachelor's of science from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from St. Thomas. He is a Marine Corp veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He will reside in Northern California with his wife Kelli and their two children.
Sonepar USA (Charleston, SC): Ron Harper has joined Sonepar USA in the newly created role of senior VP, supply chain and logistics. With significant capital investments planned over the next few years for the building of new CDCs and automation of supply chain processes, Sonepar USA selected Harper to lead the supply chain strategy to support its growth initiatives.
Harper joins Sonepar USA from a career in supply chain and logistics built at PepsiCo, J.C. Penney, Samsung and Nordstrom. He received a bachelor’s degree in industrial management at Michigan Technological University and a master’s of science in transportation management from the University of Denver.
Quanta Services (Houston): Holli Ladhani joined the company's board of directors, bringing extensive energy industry and financial experience to the company. She previously served as president, CEO and a director of Select Energy Services, a provider of water management and chemical solutions to the energy industry, through Jan. 2021. Ladhani holds a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and a MBA from Rice University.
Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA) (St. Louis): The 1,700-member motor repair and service association announced new international officers for the 2021-2022 administrative year. The new officers are: Chairman of the Board: Tim Bieber of D-Electric, Inc., Quakertown, PA; Vice-Chairman: Sid Seymour of Seymour-Smith Electric Motor & Pump Service, Burlington, Ontario, Canada; and Secretary/Treasurer: Sean McNamara of Komatsu, Rutherford, New South Wales, Australia. Serving on the executive committee with the above officers are Immediate Past-Chairman Jerry Gray of Sloan Electromechanical Service & Sales, San Diego; Barry Bullard of EMI Power & Automation, Decatur, AL; and Paul Rossiter of Energy Management Corp., Salt Lake City.
Kaman Distribution Group (Bloomfield, CT): Stephen Martin was appointed VP – general counsel, and John Crawford is now VP of human resources. Most recently, Martin served as general counsel and corporate secretary for Accuride Corp. He has a bachelor’s of science and master’s of science in electrical engineering from the University of Miami and the University of Southern California, respectively. He received his law degree and graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law. In addition, he served in the U.S. Air Force for six years and received multiple military honors.
Crawford most recently was the director of human resources for Barnes Group, with responsibility for four global business units. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts and a Juris Doctor from Albany School of Law.