Plumbing News

On The Move

Leonard Valve Co. appointed Peter Gobis III as national sales manager, responsible for all sales in the United States and Canada. He was previously employed as sales manager for Senior Aerospace, a supplier of engineered products for aircraft and weapons systems.

Bath furniture manufacturer Sonia has recruited sales expert Martin Siwy as Western regional sales manager. Siwy has more than seven years of sales experience in the design plumbing industry and specializes predominately in distribution and marketing. Prior to joining Sonia, Siwy was the vice president of luxury faucet and fixture manufacturer Waterdecor.

HVAC distributor N.B. Handy appointed Chris Payne to the position of manager of technical services – roofing. Payne has been with N.B. Handy since 2003, most recently serving as the general manager of the company’s Greenville, S.C., distribution facility.

Steril-Aire announced further expansions to its sales and engineering staffs: Dave Kueneman is Northwest regional manager; Jeff Scheir is West regional manager; and Ken Gilleland, P.E., is senior project engineer.

BrassCraft promoted Beth Vessels to the position of national accounts manager. Vessels joined BrassCraft in October 2006 as retail channel manager.

Victaulic appointed Dr. Hsiang-Cheng Kung as research director of engineering. In this new role, Dr. Kung will work to advance the level of Victaulic’s research programs in the Fire Safety market. Prior to joining Victaulic, Dr. Kung worked as the director of business development, fire protection division at Underwriters Laboratories.

Nicole Shillingford joined Villeroy & Boch USA Bath, Kitchen and Tile as marketing manager. In this newly created position, Shillingford will be responsible exclusively for the bath business segment. She previously served in similar executive marketing positions at Time Warner and Lord, Abbett & Co.