Plumbing News

On The Move

Industry manufacturer retirements, promotions and hirings.

Bill Blaine, senior vice president of sales at Elkay, will retire Jan. 15, 2007, after 12 years with the company. He joined the company as vice president of sales in 1995.

In other news, Elkay's Plumbing Products Division announced a new management structure and key personnel appointments. The sales department will be divided into two regions with a senior executive handling each region. Pat Mulvey, formerly vice president of trade sales and market development, now holds that title for the East region. Mark Whittington, formerly vice president of manufacturing and supply chain for the Plumbing Products Division, is now vice president of trade sales and market development for the West region.

In addition, Mike Purcell, formerly the market development manager for the mid-Atlantic region, has been promoted to a national account manager. Tom Samanic, formerly director of strategic implementation, assumes the newly created role of director of marketing services.

Moen appointed David B. Lingafelter as president of its U.S. faucet businesses. He will assume responsibility for the company's residential and commercial faucet businesses. Most recently, he was vice president and general manager of Moen's U.S. Wholesale Business unit.

Craig Breese was named president of Rheem Water Heating Division, replacing Simon Parfitt, who has been promoted to vice president-finance for parent corporation Rheem Manufacturing Co. Breese had been serving as president of Maytag International, a position he held since 2001.

David Martin was named president of Heat Transfer Products. He formerly worked 16 years with the Rheem Water Heating Division, most recently as vice president, marketing.

American Standard announced the appointments of Dale Elliott as president of its global Bath and Kitchen business and Donald Devine as president of the Americas region. In addition, Richard Ward, vice president and general manager of Bath and Kitchen Asia, was named as president of the region. They join John Rietveldt in Europe, whose appointment was announced in May, as leaders of American Standard's $2.4 billion global Bath and Kitchen business.

Uponor announced that Anders Tollsten will replace Jim Bjork as Uponor North America's executive vice president. Tollsten previously served as executive vice president of the Uponor Nordic region. Bjork resigned a few months ago. The company also hired Joel Culp as a vice president; he was most recently director of channel marketing at Kohler.

A.O. Smith Water Products Co. named Paul Dana vice president-global product engineering. He was previously the plant manager of A.O. Smith's operations in Juarez, Mexico.

Matthew P. Hurley is Chicago Faucets' new vice president of commercial sales. He has 20 years of plumbing and HVAC experience, most recently with Anvil International and Watts Water Technologies.

Lennox International, parent company of Service Experts, appointed Richard L. Thompson to succeed Chairman John W. Norris Jr., who retired July 21. Thompson was previously vice chairman of the company.

Grohe named James R. Griffin as president and CEO of the company's U.S.-based subsidiary. He most recently served as president and general manager of Specialty Construction Brands Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of adhesives, coating and sealants manufacturer H.B. Fuller. He was also CEO of eCandy, and spent 15 years at Nestle SA, where his last role was president and general manager of the Willy Wonka Candy Factory division.

Perfection Corp. appointed Daryl Wells to quality assurance manager. He has more than 27 years of quality, engineering and manufacturing experience in the auto, nuclear and power industries.

The Home Depot announced that Tom Taylor, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, has decided to leave the company at the end of the year. In other news, Mark Holifield was named senior vice president, supply chain, succeeding Marvin Ellison, who was promoted to president of The Home Depot's northern division in January.