Affiliated Distributors (Wayne, PA)
AD appointed Luis Valls, co-CEO and president of Turtle, and Lura McBride, president & CEO of Van Meter Inc., to the AD Electrical – U.S. Divisional Board. (photo above).
Valls has been instrumental in leading Turtle’s growth and strategic direction. A-D believes his thought leadership and innovative thinking will make a strong addition to this team.
Lura McBride joined Van Meter in 2008 as vice president of Organizational Effectiveness; was promoted to in 2010 and named president and CEO in 2016. Her expertise is in building strong teams, and she is intentional about cultivating a high-performance culture focused on creating lasting value for customers, supplier partners, communities and employee-owners.
Rexel USA (Dallas)
Jeremy Rothbard was promoted to serve as the company’s new California Region president. For the past three years, he served as the District Vice President of Southern California.
Rothbard began his career at GE Supply in electrical distribution. He expanded his focus to include industrial outside sales in central and Southern California and then transitioned to channel management for GE Lighting and GE Industrial Solutions. Following that, he served as the director of project operations for the U.S. and Canada. In 2015, Rothbard returned to distribution as Rexel’s Anaheim branch manager.
OmniCable (West Chester, PA)
Derek Nicholson was hired as St. Louis regional manager and will lead the St. Louis commercial team. He has more than 15 years of experience in the electrical industry. Prior to OmniCable, he was with LEDvance and Grainger.
Motion Industries (Birmingham, AL)
Chris Cleland was named senior VP of Strategy & Markets. His career spans over 25 years in consulting, strategy, marketing, branding, e-commerce, business development and transformation. In his previous role as principal consultant at Cummings Creative Group (CCG), for the past 20 years he led multiple initiatives across several industry verticals, driving growth and innovation for clients—including 12-plus years consulting with Motion on marketing and strategy projects.
In his new role, Cleland will lead the Motion Industries’ strategy development for its business groups and the e-commerce and digital teams. He will report to James Howe, Motion’s executive VP– chief commercial officer/chief technology officer. Cleland graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), earning a bachelor’s of science degree in business.
nVent Electric plc (London)
Martha Claire Bennett has joined the organization as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Bennett will lead the company’s global marketing organization, strengthening the focus on vertical marketing, expanding digital marketing capabilities and enhancing nVent’s customer and partner experience. She also will lead branding and communications, accelerating nVent’s role in the sustainability and the electrification of everything.
Bennett brings more than 25 years of global marketing experience with expertise in omnichannel marketing, brand management and vertical strategy. She most recently served as chief marketing officer and senior vice president of 3M’s Safety and Industrial Business Group, where she led the global marketing function and broader community of marketing practice for the company’s largest business group. Bennett holds a bachelor of environmental studies degree from the University of Waterloo and a MBA in marketing strategy specialization from Queen’s University School of Business.
National Lighting Bureau (NLB) (Brentwood, TN)
The organization recently named its 2014 leadership team. Board of directors: Chair - Mary Beth Gotti; Vice Chair - Paul Pompeo, president, Pompeo Group; Secretary - Karen Willis, NEMA; Treasurer - Jeremy Yon, industry relations leader, Current; and executive director - Tom Butters, Lighting Agora.
Directors-at-Large: Mark Lien, Illuminating Engineering Society (IES); Howard Lewis, specification sales, Spectro Lume, LLC; Terry McGowan, American Lighting Association (ALA); Cary Mendelson, CEO, Imperial Lighting Maintenance Company; and Jim Yorgey.
Ideal Industries (Sycamore, IL)
Pinky Raina recently joined Ideal as CFO and assumes sole responsibility for the organization’s financial strategy, which includes three global brands: Ideal Electrical, Anderson Power and Enatel. Raina will replace Kevin Lamb, who will retire in 2024.
Raina brings more than 20 years of global experience across diverse industries including manufacturing, sports, entertainment and professional services. Most recently, Raina served as CFO and COO at the U.S. Soccer Federation. She previously held leadership positions with IDEX and Marmon Holdings in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in both business and economics from Rhodes College and earned her MBA with a concentration in accounting from the Fogelman School of Business at the University of Memphis.