Plumbing News

On The Move

This month's notable industry appointments and announcements.

Bradford White announced the retirement of Anthony Maglione, who had been with the company since 1966, finishing his career as director of international sales. That position will be filled by James Resnick, who has been with Bradford White since 1981, most recently as director of product development. The company also announced the appointment of Dennis Travisano to the newly created position of director of business development. Travisano is a 25-year plumbing industry veteran who most recently served as vice president wholesale for Jacuzzi's Bath Division.

John W. Norris Jr., chairman of Lennox International, will retire on July 21. Director David V. Brown will retire on April 20, and Walden (Wally) O'Dell resigned from his director position. The company's board governance committee recommended that Richard L. Thompson, current vice chairman, be elected to succeed Norris. A search will be initiated to fill the director positions.

Paul W. Jones was elected chairman, president and chief executive officer of A.O. Smith Corp. Previously he was elected president and chief operating officer in January 2004. Prior to joining A.O. Smith, he was chairman and CEO of U.S. Can Co. Inc.

The Chicago Faucet Co. announced that William Christensen will be its president and CEO. He joined The Geberit Group in November 2004 and was most recently head of strategic marketing in Jona, Switzerland. Prior to that he was an associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at J.P. Morgan Securities.

John Galyen was named president of Danfoss Refrigeration & Air Conditioning in North America. He had been serving with Danfoss as vice president of commercial refrigeration OEM sales and marketing since 2003. Also, Danfoss appointed Jamie Kitchen as training manager. He joined Danfoss in 1999 and most recently was a sales account manager in Canada serving commercial refrigeration OEM customers.

Wolseley, parent company of Ferguson Enterprises, named Frank Roach as CEO of Wolseley North America. He succeeds Chip Hornsby, who will succeed Charlie Banks as CEO of Wolseley, effective Aug. 1. Starting at Ferguson in 1976, Roach was most recently senior vice president of Wolseley North America.

Also, Larry Stoddard was named senior vice president of business development for Wolseley Group. He began at Ferguson in 1981 and most recently served as senior vice president for business development of Wolseley North America.

Phil Weeks was named president of the Jacuzzi Bath Division. Chris Capone was promoted to senior vice president of sales for the division from vice president of sales. Other changes to the sales territories for the division are: Eugene “Buddy” Lamana is national sales manager for the Jacuzzi U.S. wholesale sales team; Paul Sheppard was named zone manager for the South; Andy Krug is zone manager for the Central States; and Gary Chmielewski is zone manager for the Pacific Northwest.

Other appointments: Bert Magladry was named national account manager for Ferguson Enterprises; Andrew Capone joined the company as the Northeast builder manager; Dean Pendergras is West Coast builder manager; and Barbara Malayter was promoted to sales administrator.

Hansgrohe-Germany elected Richard Grohe, the grandson of the company founder, to the board of directors. Also, Russ Wheeler was named president of Hansgrohe-North America. He formerly was vice president of sales for Your Other Warehouse, one of the plumbing industry's leading master distributors, owned by Home Depot. Wheeler replaces Chris Marshall, who in August 2005 was promoted within Masco Corp.

Larry Guillemette was named chairman, president and CEO of Amtrol, and Joseph DePaula as executive vice president, treasurer, secretary and CFO. The appointments were made after Albert Indelicato resigned as chairman, president and CEO, citing personal reasons.

Symmons Industries named Dominic Solis as vice president of sales and marketing. Previously, he was the company's director of marketing.

Rob Grim was promoted to In-Sink-Erator's vice president of wholesale sales from vice president of retail sales, and Robert Tsuchiyama is returning to the company from parent company Emerson as In-Sink-Erator's vice president of retail sales. Tsuchiyama previously served as Emerson's vice president for Emerson store support.

Power tool manufacturer Lenox named Craig Vogel its vice president of sales for the industrial market; Jim Welch as vice president of sales for the commercial selling organization (plumbing HVACR and electrical); Rich Mathews as vice president of marketing; and Lee Wilkins as director of marketing for the hand tools division.

Black & Decker named Penny Mauro as general manager of BDHHI Canada, and Joe Woodhouse as vice president of sales, security hardware, Canada. Mauro joined BDHHI International Group in 2004 as vice president of marketing; Woodhouse was vice president of sales, Canada.

AERCO International announced senior-level promotions throughout the organization: Neil Pilaar was named director of global sales; Mark Croce was named director of marketing; Jerry Fioriti was named director of technology; Mohamed Mehdi Doura was named senior product engineer; and Ken Banuls was named senior lab technician.

John Aykroyd was named national sales manager for Sloan Valve Co. Previously he was national sales manager for Halsey Taylor.

Perfection Corp. appointed Olivier Braquet to head its export sales expansion efforts. Braquet is the former director of Ohio's Cleveland State University International Business Center.

Waterless Co. appointed Vincent Newton as eastern regional sales manager. He has more than 20 years experience in the commercial plumbing industry. Newton's responsibilities will be to solidify the company's sales force and to develop new sales strategies for the company's No Flush urinal product line.

DECOLAV appointed Karin Klein to strategic account manager - The Home Depot. She previously worked for Home Depot in the plumbing, HVAC and storage and organization categories.

Alan Monat is senior project manager at Keeney Mfg. He comes to Keeney from Home Depot, where he worked in the plumbing and electrical areas.

Software provider Apriso Corp. made the following executive changes: Mark Gonia was hired as vice president of field operations, Americas; Yves Vergnolle was promoted to vice president and managing director of EMEA operations; and Chris Chung was named vice president of field operations for the Asia-Pacific region.

Brett Guarrero has been named engineering manager of HeatLink USA LLC. The company also welcomes Domenico DiGregorio as western U.S. regional manager. DiGregorio previously worked for RTI PEX Piping Systems.

Ann Swartzbaugh was recently promoted to regional sales manager for New Yorker Boiler. Her new responsibilities are focused on supporting the hydronics market in the central and western U.S. territories and Canada.