New Appointments: September 2014-II

Civilight North America has appointed five new lighting industry veterans to sales and marketing positions. Dennis Picklesimer was appointed as vice president of sales. In this newly created position, Picklesimer will manage regional sales managers across the country, each of whom will focus on a targeted geographic region. Picklesimer brings more than thirty years of experience in the electrical and lighting industries to the postion. Sharon Katz has joined the company as director of Marketing. Formerly of MaxLite and Toshiba America Consumer Products, Katz will make certain that the company takes an aggressive approach to reaching customers with its sales and marketing initiatives in North America. Michael Goldberg now serves as Civilight’s northeast regional sales manager, where he will pioneer the company’s efforts to establish a sales force through independent lighting sales representatives from Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland, up through Maine, and in eastern Canada from Toronto to Nova Scotia. Bennie E. Pierce, Jr. was appointed as the company’s southeast regional sales manager. Pierce will utilize his fifteen-plus years of sales management experience to plan and execute strategic sales and marketing plans throughout the southeast, from Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma and south to Florida. Preston A. Matthews was appointed to western regional sales manager. He will establish the company’s brand presence from Texas to California and north to Washington and Idaho, and throughout western Canada.

Esko announces that Udo Panenka is joining the company as senior vice president sales. Panenka has responsibility for the global Esko sales, service, and marketing organization. He most recently served as vice president and General Manager for Kollmorgen’s Industrial Automation Business for Europe and India. Jon Giardina was hired as vice president Americas. Giardina will lead the Esko organizations in North and Latin America. He most recently served as vice president & general manager for Danaher’s Dynapar and West/PMA businesses.

FDC Graphic Films, Inc. has promoted Dan Stretch to director of Sales. In his three years with FDC, Stretch has developed knowledge of the company, products and the graphics industry, serving in the role of Sales Manager. In his new role, he will continue to manage and develop the field and inside sales teams. Stretch has over 20 years experience in sales, marketing, key account management and sales training.

FSR has promoted Donnell S. Johnson to marketing manager. Johnson is responsible for creating an initiative for expanding and strengthening the company’s brand image on both a corporate and product level. He started his career at FSR as a corporate intern and most recently was the assistant manager global communications.

Halco Lighting Technologies announces that Lisa Johnson is joining the sales organization in the newly created role of sales operations manager. Johnson will be refining sales processes, driving technology initiatives to improve reporting and sales performance monitoring for the sales organization, as well as reviewing the agent on-boarding process. Johnson joined Halco in 1998 as an Administrative Assistant and most recently served as Operations Manager. Suzanne Irvine has been appointed as director of Human Resources. Irvine is responsible for all human resource planning and strategy for Halco Lighting Technologies. She brings more than twenty years to her position, and previously worked for United Technologies Corporation.

Panasonic Lighting Americas, Inc. has promoted Joseph A. Damiani to executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. He will continue to provide leadership direction for the Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. sales and marketing divisions. Damiani brings extensive knowledge and skill in sales and marketing to his new position through his thirty years of experience in the electrical industry, twelve of those years as Universal’s senior vice president of sales.

Universal Lighting Technologies has added Ron Cattelona as new regional sales manager for the Mid-Atlantic region. Cattelona will be responsible for growing the northeast distribution channel by managing and supporting agents and distributors. He previously worked for Facility Solutions Group and EiKo Global LLC.