Stewart Smallwood Named President of Cerrowire
Cerrowire has promoted Stewart Smallwood to president. Smallwood joined the company in 2012 and has held positions in sales and distribution, including vice president of sales and the company’s general manager.
During his time with Cerrowire, Smallwood has developed a data-driven sales strategy that aligns the company’s customers with the strengths of the four plants. He also led cross-functional teams focused on process flow and delivery. He continues to build a culture and implement communications strategies throughout the organization to encourage the exchange of ideas.
Prior to Cerrowire, Smallwood worked in electrical distribution in purchasing and management roles. He is a graduate of Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in finance.
For more information, visit cerrowire.com.
Signify Appoints New U.S. Head of Professional Trade Sales
Keith Eagle was appointed as U.S. head of professional trade sales at Signify, previously known as Philips Lighting. In this role, Eagle will be responsible for accelerating Signify’s position in the market and supporting the full range of professional customers’ lighting needs—from conventional and LED products to connected lighting systems and services.
Eagle joins Signify from JELD-WEN, a global commercial and residential window and door manufacturer, where he was a senior sales executive in the United States. Prior to that, he held a variety of senior sales leadership roles at electrical manufacturers that include Cree Inc., Eaton Corp. and Hubbell Inc.
Eagle succeeds Bill Schoettler, a 40-year electrical industry veteran, who retired on Feb. 1. Based in Signify’s U.S. headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey, Eagle will report to Roger Karner, U.S. president, Signify.
For more information, visit signify.com.
William Marshall to Lead U.S. Sales for Leviton Lighting
Leviton recently announced that the consolidated sales teams of its various U.S. lighting companies will report to William Marshall, senior vice president of distribution sales and marketing. In this new role, Marshall is charged with driving the sales initiatives for Leviton’s three domestic lighting brands—Birchwood Lighting, ConTech Lighting and Intense Lighting—in addition to his existing responsibilities of overseeing overall wholesale sales.
Working directly for Marshall will be John LaMontagne, vice president of sales for Leviton Lighting. They will continue to strengthen each individual lighting brand with creative business opportunities, cohesive distribution policies and exceptional customer support.
For more information, visit leviton.com.
NICOR Welcomes New Midwest Regional Sales Manager
NICOR Lighting recently announced the appointment of Marty Kruse as Midwest regional sales manager.
Kruse brings broad experience in the lighting/electrical industry, having worked for distribution (ESD), a lighting maintenance contractor (AMTECH Lighting Services), an ESCO project-focused manufacturer (Precision Paragon) and for the last four years as the north central region sales manager for Hubbell Lighting. He is happily married (36 years), has two grown children and resides in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.
For more information, visit nicorlighting.com.
OmniCable Announces Personnel Changes, Wins Safety Award
OmniCable Corp., headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, promoted Erik Knight to Corporate Sales Center manager. In this role, Knight is responsible for the day-to-day operations and leadership of OmniCable’s Corporate Sale Center. Knight has more than 16 years of industry experience.
OmniCable also recently hired Brittany Guyton as the Los Angeles regional manager. In this role, Guyton is responsible for the day-to-day operations and leadership of OmniCable’s Los Angeles branch. Prior to OmniCable, Guyton was the southwest regional sales manager at General Cable. Guyton is a native of Ohio. Since moving to southern California, she earned her MBA from Pepperdine University.
In other company news, OmniCable received the Elite Distributors Insurance Company (EDIC)’s Charles Steiner Risk Control Award for the second straight year for its effective safety programs and performance, favorable claims experience and participation in risk control workshops in 2018. OmniCable has been a member of EDIC, a member-owned group captive, since 2015.
“We are humbled to win this award again. Providing a safe work environment for our employee-owners is our No. 1 priority,” said Jim Staeger, director of operations, Omni- Cable. “Our ownership culture has helped foster a strong safety mentality throughout the company. When people are empowered to speak up and share their ideas, good things happen,” he added.
For more information, visit omnicable.com.
Legrand and Lumileds Announce Partnership
Legrand, North and Central America, and Lumileds have announced a partnership agreement that will bring to market a simple-to-integrate and easy-to-install plugand-play solution that delivers high-quality tunable-white light. Under this agreement, Lumileds will provide intelligent light sources (LUXEON-based solutions) through its awardwinning Matrix Platform that are uniquely characterized and programmed to work with Legrand’s Wattstopper blanco tunable white logic modules within the Wattstopper Digital Lighting Management lighting controls solution. Lumileds joins existing Legrand partnerships in tunablewhite light engines as the exclusive LED array provider.
The partnership, combining expertise in LED light sources, drivers and controls with the blanco intellectual property from Lumenetix Inc., ensures the development of industryleading, market-ready solutions for a range of tunable-white applications across commercial, health care, hospitality and education market segments.
For more information, visit legrand.us or lumileds.com.
Houston Wire and Cable Wins Belden 2018 Pinnacle Award
Houston Wire and Cable (HWC) won Belden Inc.’s Pinnacle Award for 2018. Given to the Belden distributor that experienced the most revenue growth performance with Belden year over year, the Pinnacle Award for 2018 was accepted by HWC on Feb. 28.
“It is with great honor that we present Belden’s prestigious 2018 Pinnacle Award to HWC,” said Joel Theisen, vice president of global channel development at Belden. “HWC realized the top revenue growth performance in 2018 among all distributors in the industrial cable segment of Belden’s wire and cable business. HWC’s commitment to providing outstanding service to its customers has led to breakthrough growth of exceeding 2018’s industrial market conditions with Belden. With more than 40 years of partnership, the commitment of the HWC team to success makes us well aligned to continue the growth in 2019 together.” Formally accepting the award on behalf of HWC at the Belden headquarters were: Brian Roy, vice president of sales and marketing; Jim Bough, vice president of supply chain and product management, and Saul Gonzalez, general manager of cable management solutions.
“It’s a great alignment of two distinct leaders in this sector,” said Roy. “A core belief here at HWC is ‘Together, We Are Better’ and given that Belden and HWC have been partnering since 1979, this core strength has allowed HWC to become the premiere value-add source, ensuring our distributors have the right product at the right place at the right time.”
For more information, visit houwire.com.
NSI Industries Launches Redesigned Website
NSI Industries LLC has redesigned its website to provide easier product navigation and a better user experience. Tailored to distributors and end users, the new look is brand-focused, highlighting the company’s industry-leading NSI, TORK, Polaris and WarriorWrap product lines.
The new website has a clean, simple look with a homepage that provides easy product navigation, while highlighting NSI’s latest product offerings and news. The improved functionality features NSI, TORK, Polaris and WarriorWrap brands and each of the brands’ product categories on the homepage. Product categories are featured by name and with a product photo for easier and faster identification. This guides users to new redesigned product homepages to find the exact product suited for their needs, as well as valuable product information and supporting literature and resources.
The website also features a new resources section where users can easily navigate to brochures and catalogs, mobile documents, videos, a technical library, technical support and a product cross-reference tool. In addition, a new section highlights NSI’s company information and the value the company offers to its distributor partners.
To view the new website, visit nsiindustries.com.
DDS Now an IMARK Member Service Provider
IMARK Group recently announced that Distributor Data Solutions (DDS), a leading e-commerce product content provider serving the wholesale distribution industry, is now a member service provider.
DDS was formed in 2014 by veterans of the electrical industry to assist distributors with the challenges of obtaining and presenting top-quality product content on their e-commerce websites. Since then, DDS has developed a suite of products using advanced technologies and concepts to power e-content for distributors seeking to differentiate their e-commerce offering and provide exceptional service to their customers.
DDS has more than 4 million electrical, industrial supply, HVAC and plumbing SKUs to date—with all the supplemental information, images and documents that manufacturers make available—ready for deployment on a distributor’s e-commerce website, regardless of technology platform.
DDS also maintains the content to ensure distributors are presenting current and accurate product information to their customers.
DDS’ product content is sourced directly from more than 375 manufacturers and includes features, specifications, multiple hi-res images, videos, documents (spec sheets, brochures, installation manuals, CAD drawings, 2D and 3D drawings), 360-degree product images and marketing descriptions. In addition to delivering e-commerce-ready product content, DDS also provides complete end-to-end content management for distributors and their websites. This includes enhanced product content, product maintenance, product file matching, category management, normalized facets, product file cleanup and more. All content is delivered custom-formatted to each distributor, with programmatic enhancements to enable faster time to market.
DDS offers product content and data management solutions that can help any IMARK member distributor—regardless of size or industry—and whether they’re just entering the e-commerce space or looking to improve their existing online offering.
For more information, contact Matt Christensen at mattc@distdatasolutions.com or 801-509-9903 or visit distributordatasolutions.com.
Moblico Now an IMARK Member Service Provider
Moblico can help IMARK members use digital marketing communication solutions to improve customer service, expedite orders and expand their customer base. Moblico’s solutions include:
- Broadcast Messaging: One-to-many text messaging communications to promote new products, special offers and deliver real-time announcements.
- Business Messaging: One-to-one text picture messaging to streamline communications and increase overall productivity.
- Mobile App: Ideal to instantly access contextual information, documents and targeted communications.
- Digital Direct: Highly-targeted digital marketing campaigns to help you convert new customers and reduce overall marketing spend.
With Moblico’s digital marketing communication solutions, IMARK members can increase productivity and sales by making the overall digital customer experience easier and faster.
For more information, contact Pierre Barbeau at pierre@moblico.com or 913-219-4604 or visit moblicosolutions.com.
Veteran Electrical Distribution Leader Joins SPA Executive Team
SPA CEO David Bauders recently announced the addition of long-time distribution executive Greg Smith to the executive team of SPA. Smith will serve as the company’s vice president of strategic accounts and partnerships.
Smith has held numerous senior-level positions in the electrical distribution industry. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of Quincy, Massachusetts-based Granite City Electric Supply. Previously, he founded and operated a successful electrical distribution business. He also serves on the board of the National Association of Electrical Distributors.
Smith will be instrumental in developing and promoting SPA’s comprehensive platform to modernize industrial B2B sales forces to increase effectiveness, profitability and long-term growth.
For more information, visit strategicpricing.com.
NEMRA Names New President and CEO
The National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA) announced Jim Johnson will be its new president and CEO as Ken Hooper will retire.
Johnson was selected following a comprehensive search of candidates from within the manufacturing, distribution and trade association communities. He brings to NEMRA more than 30 years of experience as a manufacturing sales executive and a manufacturer’s representative.
“We are excited to have an industry executive of Jim’s caliber taking over the leadership of NEMRA,” said Fran Pollart, NEMRA’s chairman and head of the search committee. “He possesses the leadership skills, the strategic acumenand, most importantly, a breadth of industry experience, all of which will benefit the entire NEMRA membership.” Johnson will work with Hooper during a 60-day transition before Hooper retires.
For more information, visit nemra.org.
Acuity Brands Endorses NEMRA POS Standards
Acuity Brands has joined the 41 manufacturers/brands and leading electrical distributors that are endorsing the NEMRA POS Minimum Reporting Standards.
The standards, developed by a joint manufacturer rep/manufacturer task force, identify the minimum point of sale (POS)/point of transfer (POT) information that manufacturers need from distributors to accurately compensate their local sales agent. The information is needed to identify where a product is sold and does not include customer information. The decision to share customer-level information is left to commercial discussions between distributors and manufacturers, and can be accommodated within the standards reporting format.
“Just like lighting has changed, distribution is changing and many of our strategic accounts have changed their lighting sales models,” John Mabbott, senior vice president, commercial and industrial sales, Acuity Brands Lighting, said. “Point of sale reporting is important to our distributors to ensure that the appropriate lighting agent gets compensated and it is very important to our agents. While we’re not a member of NEMRA, we applaud NEMRA for taking a leadership position on this issue to support independent sales agents and for reaching out to involve all manufacturers in this important initiative.”
As an endorser, Acuity Brands encourages distributors to submit POS information in the approved NEMRA POS/POT format.
For more information, visit nemra.org/point-sale-initiative.
Arlington Presents National and Regional Sales Awards
Arlington Industries Inc. has announced the recipients of its rep sales awards for 2018. Presented to firms representing Arlington at the recent National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association 19 meeting held in Dallas, Texas, the awards recognize outstanding achievement during the 2018 calendar year for sales of Arlington’s products.
Brandon Sitterle, of E-Tel Sales Inc. in Houston, Texas, received Arlington’s Inside Sales Person of the Year award, which Arlington’s customer service staff gives to the inside sales person delivering the best performance at a firm representing Arlington. Sitterle is the first person to win this award twice in Arlington’s history. D.Z. Cook Co. in Hayward, California received the National Sales Achievement Award. ERI Inc. in Waukesha, Wisconsin received the Central Region Sales Achievement Award. Hoyt Northwest in Portland, Oregon won the Western Region Sales Achievement Award. Led by Rhonda Vaught for the past two years, this marks the first time that a female-owned sales agency has earned this recognition. CEMI-USA in Harahan, Louisiana claimed the Southern Region Sales Achievement Award. The Eastern Region Sales Achievement Award went to Damin Sales Inc. in Edison, New Jersey. L.T. Marketing Inc. in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada took home the Canadian Sales Achievement Award. Arlington extends its congratulations to all of the winners as the company celebrates 70 years in business in 2019.
For more information, visit aifittings.com.
NAILD Announces Scholarship in Paul Hafner’s Memory
The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors (NAILD) will keep the memory of the late lighting industry icon Paul Hafner alive with a memorial scholarship. Hafner, who passed away in July 2018, was known as a thought leader who launched NAILD’s Lighting Specialist (LS) training programs.
NAILD is now accepting scholarship donations, which will fund the lighting education of the first three recipients in 2019. One recipient will receive a free “The Transition of Legacy Sources to LED” (LS-I) course, another will receive a free “Lighting Specialist-II” (LS-II) course and a third will receive a free Lighting Specialist-Controls” (LS-C) course.
Hafner worked in the lighting industry for nearly 30 years. He created NAILD’s LS-I and LS-II courses. LS-I helps lighting sales employees better understand how and when customers should retrofit their facilities from incandescent and compact fluorescent light technologies to solid-state lighting. LS-II takes that training one step further, focusing on retail, industrial, office and educational facilities. Both courses are a combination of expert technical instruction and hands-on field experience delivered through userfriendly, self-paced online courses that Hafner narrates.
NAILD also offers LS-C training, which was developed by Craig DiLouie. Energy codes are driving the adoption of automatic lighting controls in new commercial buildings, while technology, utility rebates and strong growth in LED upgrades have increased demand for controls in existing buildings. Customers are looking for experts who can tell them what to do and select products.
To donate to the Paul Hafner Memorial Scholarship Fund, send a check to NAILD, 191 Clarksville Road, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550, Attn: Greta Cuyler.
For more information, visit naild.org.
Minerallac Celebrates 125 Years in Business
Minerallac Co. is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. From patenting the first Standard Conduit Hanger in 1904 to patenting the One-Hole Strap or “Jiffy Clip” in 1914, Minerallac has been innovating fasteners and hardware for the electrical industry since its inception.
Founded by Louis A. Ferguson in 1894, Minerallac’s very first products were insulating compounds made from mineral oil and lacquer, hence the name Minerallac. Based in Chicago, Minerallac owed much of its early success to a close relationship with Chicago Edison. Throughout the years, Minerallac has grown through new product innovations and corporate acquisitions and now operates two facilities, one outside of Chicago in suburban Hampshire, Illinois and the other in Auburn, Washington. Minerallac Co. is still owned by the original founding family.
Minerallac believes in the power of building relationships with people and that the best business relationships are those in which everyone succeeds. Most employees work with Minerallac for nearly 10 years and 11 of its employees have been with the company for 25 years or more. “We still work with some of the same vendors we were working with 70 years ago,” said Minerallac Co. President Jim Hlavacek. “We are excited about the future.”
For more information, visit minerallac.com.
IDEA Announces Partnership with EnterWorks
IDEA will make EnterWorks’ Multi-Domain Master Data Management (MDM) platform an integral component of its mission to be the single source of complete, highquality data that allows businesses to make the best decisions possible. IDEA selected the EnterWorks MDM solution to power the future generation of the IDEA Connector, building from today’s offering that standardizes and manages manufacturer product data in electrical, industrial, retail and consumer-packaged goods.
For more information, visit idea4industry.com.