Archive for December 8th, 2009

O’Hara Joins Ericson as North Central Regional Manager

sean-ohara.jpgSean O’Hara has been hired as the North Central Regional sales manager at Ericson Manufacturing, Willoughby, Ohio. Prior to joining Ericson, Sean spent the last five years with Cablofil-Legrand with a focus on sales and training responsibilities for the Midwest Region. He has more than 20 years of experience within the electrical and construction industry and a B.S. in marketing from Western Illinois University.

Big Apple Building Owners Say Mayor’s Green Dreams are Too-Green, Too-Fast

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped an ambitious plan to require energy audits for any building 50,000 square feet or larger because of growing concerns among building owners about the monumental cost of such a measure, according to an article on the Mother Nature Network.

Philips Names Zia Eftekhar CEO of Professional Luminaires Business for North America

Royal Philips Electronics announced on Dec. 8 that Zia Eftekhar has been appointed CEO of Philips Professional Luminaires North America, effective Jan. 1. Eftekhar will succeed Kaj den Daas, a 33-year veteran of Philips Lighting, who will continue as chairman of Philips Lighting North America and concentrate particularly on supporting the company’s legislative activities and participation in industry associations such as the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Electrical Distributors.
Eftekhar is a 40-year veteran of the lighting industry and currently CEO of the Philips Lightolier Group, the single largest business within Philips Professional Luminaires. Since 1992 he has been the president of Lightolier and a Director of The Genlyte Group, the publicly traded parent of Lightolier acquired by Philips in 2008. Eftekhar played a crucial role in the integration of the Genlyte businesses into Philips, and in his new role he will lead the drive to further grow Philips’ leadership position in professional lighting systems and solutions in North America.

Cooper Industries Opens B-Line Factory in Saudia Arabia

Cooper Industries, Houston, has opened a new manufacturing facility located in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new facility is Cooper’s first in region and will function as a 100 percent U.S.-owned entity operating within Saudi Arabia, which represents one of the first of its kind in this region. The new facility will significantly reduce Cooper’s delivery lead times for product orders and specification configurations in the region. Located less than 12 miles from Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran, the Cooper facility will offer an extensive line of electrical products, components and engineering services for the region’s growing oil and gas market. The new 50,000-square-foot facility has been delegated as an Aramco-approved facility for Cooper B-Line produced products, which involved passing the Saudi oil company’s strenuous quality management assessments and strict Saudisation provisions. Details

Smart Grid Live: Big Apple and Garden State Now Sharing Electrical Power

Power grids in New Jersey and New York City are now talking to each other and dispatching energy more efficiently and reliably using breakthrough GE smart grid technology and capital, the company announced today. Three massive “variable frequency transformers” are converting up to 315 megawatts of electricity – enough for up to 300,000 homes – from the power system in New Jersey and feeding it to New York City. Details

ESCO ConEdison Solutions Beefs Up Texas Operations

ConEdison Solutions, an energy-service company (ESCO) that’s a subsidiary of New York’s ConEdison utility, is expanding its Texas presence to include not only the performance contracting typical of most ESCOs but also the supply of electricity to a broad range of commercial, institutional and government customers. The firm has delivered energy services to hundreds of institutional clients across the country, including universities, school systems, and local, state and federal governments. On the electricity supply side of its business, ConEdison Solutions provides competitively priced electricity supply to business and mass market customers in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

Textron promotes Greenlee’s Scott Hall to Industrial Segment President

Scott HallGreenlee, Rockford, Ill., announced today that Scott Hall, who has been serving as president, has been promoted to president of Textron’s Industrial Segment. Textron is Greenlee’s parent company. The promotion was made by new Textron Chief Executive Officer Scott Donnelly as part of his newly-created Executive Leadership Team.

As president of Textron’s Industrial Segment, Hall will oversee the Textron businesses that manufacture and market branded industrial products worldwide, including E-Z-GO, Jacobsen, Greenlee and Kautex. He will continue his role as the president of Greenlee.