This month's promotions and appointments for manufacturers and wholesale distributors.

  • Cash Acme named expert Les Engelmann as its national backflow director. He was in retirement after previously working with Ames and Watts.

  • Jim Bjork, executive vice president of Uponor North America, announced his resignation to pursue other interests. He has served the company in a variety of management positions since 1990. Bjork will stay on until the end of August, and his successor will be announced in the near future.

  • Bradford White promoted Robert G. McKenney to the position of district sales manager. McKenney has been employed with Bradford White since 2001 as product analyst and assistant regional sales manager.

  • Sloan Valve Co. appointed David Woodworth as network sales and engineering specialist for its Programmed Water Technologies Division.

  • Brett Mueller was named vice president of engineering and western manufacturing for Jacuzzi Whirlpool Bath. He has been general manager at Clarke Products for six years. Prior to that he was with Aqua Glass.

  • Matt Holmes was named vice president sales-retail at Briggs Industries Inc. Bob Robison, vice president sales-wholesale for the U.S. and the Caribbean, will assume responsibility for that channel of distribution in Canada, as well as for the company's Builders and Commercial Divisions.

  • Industrial distributor Grainger announced James T. Ryan as its president. Most recently he was group president. The company also promoted Kevin Peters to senior vice president, supply chain; and Deb Oler to vice president of sales.

  • T&S Brass and Bronze Works appointed Jack Criswell to the role of business development manager, hose reel products. Criswell's responsibilities include marketing collaboration, new markets and products strategies, and training of T&S customers, sales reps and other employees. The company has also added Jane VanBergen and Richard Fahey as marketing product managers.

  • A. O. Smith Water Products Co. named Charles T. Lauber as vice president and chief financial officer. Lauber was vice president-global finance of A. O. Smith Electrical Products Co. He succeeds Robert Grussing IV, who was named vice president and integration team leader, heading the integration activities associated with the newly acquired GSW Water Heating business and the American Water Heater Co.

  • Hansgrohe North America recently promoted Operations Manager Xaver Hake to director of operations. He will be responsible for the expansion of all manufacturing, including quality control, injection molding, plating and PVD finishing, assembly, and distribution, as well as strategic planning.

  • Brian J. Iske was appointed director of engineering at Laars Heating Systems Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bradford White Corp. Iske has held a number of senior-level executive positions in the industry with leading manufacturers.

  • Turbotec Products, a subsidiary of Thermodynetics, hired Fred Scheideman as director of engineering, and Floyd J. Lewis as director of sales and marketing.

  • The Chicago Faucet Co. announced Patrick Kimener has returned to the company to assume the responsibility of vice president of sales, reporting to William Christensen, CEO.

  • The Gastite Division of Titeflex Corp. promoted Mark Harris from director of operations to general manager; and Carmin Lattell from director of sales and marketing to vice president of sales and marketing. Harris has been with Titeflex for 17 years. Lattell joined Gastite in 1998.

  • Weil-McLain named Tony Curran Sr. as its new vice president of sales. Beginning his career with the company in 1977, he most recently served as general manager of Williamson-Thermoflo, a sister company of Weil-McLain's. The company also announced that Bob Muser rejoined the company as eastern regional sales manager, and the promotion of Scott Schreeg to commercial product manager on the marketing team.

  • Frank D. Pulaski was appointed to head commercial refrigeration efforts in North America for Danfoss. He joined the company in 2003 as business development manager for commercial refrigeration. The company also appointed Mike Winnicki as director of operations, North America, in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Div. He was most recently a senior manager for UPS, where he managed strategic and operations planning.

  • Jacuzzi Brands appointed Edmund Krainski to the newly created position of vice president, finance. Over the past 22 years, Krainski has served in management positions at Zurn.

  • Thermadyne Industries promoted Paul Minter to director of sales for its Specialty Markets Group. Thermadyne recently formed the group by combining the company's FirePower and TurboTorch® sales teams. Prior to the promotion, Minter was Thermadyne's national business manager.

  • Long Island, N.Y.-based wholesale distributor Sid Harvey's appointed Chris LaPlante to territory manager for upstate New York and Vermont, and Bob Moody as territory manager in the New England area.

  • Mobile business solutions developer ECONZ Wireless hired Michael La Loggia as north area channel manager, Jessie Lapu Gan as west area channel manager and Joseph “Jay” Mills as south area channel manager.

  • Watts Water Technologies Inc., announced that Chad LaCroix joined Watts as product manager for Watts Brass & Tubular and Fittings Products.

  • Uponor North America recently announced a few appointments in sales and marketing: Jane Doyon was named senior manager of customer loyalty, a newly created function at Uponor. She will oversee technical services, customer service, customer relations and training. Jackie Sharrock is western U.S. sales manager; Jason O'Neill is regional sales manager for the Rocky Mountain region, previously held by Sharrock; Steve Lockridge is now plumbing business manager, providing overall direction for that system in North America; and Jon Orton joins as marketing programs manager.

  • Anvil International restructured its Mechanical/Industrial Division sales organization: Phil Schechinger is the eastern regional sales manager; Harold Arrowsmith is the northern regional sales manager; Randy Sawyer will serve as the southern regional sales manager; Ernie Chuter will be the western regional sales manager; John McFerran will assume the newly created role of manager of special projects and markets; and Bill Gilliam will continue as oil and gas sales manager.

  • Kevin Madsen was appointed central regional sales manager for Blanco America. He has more than 20 years of sales experience, most recently with Jacuzzi.

  • Steve Thurlkill was named national sales manager of Raypak, replacing Stan Young who retired last year. Thurlkill has been with Raypak since 1992. Assuming the central west regional sales manager position is Bob Ellis, who brings more than 18 years of experience in the boiler business.

  • SpacePak, a Mestek company, hired Jeff Woods as national sales manager. He recently served as a regional sales manager for RBI.

  • Fiberglass manufacturer Johns Manville announced six new additions to its sales and technology teams: Kimberly Roos joined the Performance Materials business as western regional sales manager; Richard Clark is technical leader for Performance Materials; Scott Hansen has been added as market development manager for the Carolinas; Babette Murphy is market development manager for the New York Metro/Philadelphia territory; David Hill is market development manager for the southeast territory; and Andrew Brinckerhoff has joined as sales representative in the West Coast territory.

  • SFA Saniflo Inc. appointed Gregg James to manage its network of independent sales representatives in the 23 U.S. states located west of the Mississippi River. As western regional sales manager, James will ultimately report to Saniflo national sales manager Bob Lechner, who is currently on a military leave of absence from the company.

  • THG USA hired Scott Triethart as regional sales manager, covering the New York, Boston and Chicago regions with a primary focus on the architecture and design markets.

  • Decolav named Becky Stringer as national sales manager-wholesale. She will also be strategic account manager for all national accounts. Her background includes 15 years of national account experience with companies such as Jacuzzi and Moen.

  • Tim Weichert joined the Burnham Hydronics sales team in an effort to help support and grow its customers in the Wisconsin area. Weichert has more than 20 years of HVACR industry experience as a service technician, service manager, installation manager and division manager for a large residential HVAC contractor.

  • Hacker Industries Inc. announced the addition of James Longo as technical service manager to its team of underlayment specialists.

  • Bradford White Corp. recently announced the promotion of four-year veteran Robert Mikus to the position of parts team leader. He will oversee the daily operations of parts order management, the ongoing training of his team and improving customer service capabilities.

  • Elkay Plumbing Products Division appointed Donna Chen as market intelligence and research manager. Prior to joining Elkay, Chen worked with human resources firm Hewitt Associates. The company also appointed Jack Krecek as vice president of marketing, North America, for the group. He was formerly the vice president and general manager of the Elkay Water Cooler Division. Finally, Jeff Valles was named marketing manager of faucets for Elkay's total faucet business. He was formerly a sales and marketing executive of Phylrich International, a recent Elkay acquisition.

  • Haws Corp. hired Robert M. Hanby as its market development manager. He has more than 27 years of experience, most recently as national sales manager for Oasis/Sunroc.

  • Timothy O'Keefe was named director of marketing at Symmons Industries. He joined Symmons in 2002; most recently he was involved in marketing the company's new vertical channels.