Benjamin Moore and Company, a unit
of Berkshire Hathaway, announced the
appointment of Michael Searles as chief
executive officer. Searles brings forty
years of retail leadership experience to
Benjamin Moore. In his career, he has
served as a leader at many retail concepts,
including Kids “R” Us, Wilsons Leather,
and most recently Stage Stores, Inc.
Searles replaces Bob Merritt who
had been named CEO 15 months ago.
Merritt, whose prior experience was in
the restaurant sector, was named CEO by
Warren Buffet in June 2012.
No reason was given for Merritt’s
departure.
“Michael Searles is a strong, adept
leader who understands the importance
of the independent retailer,” said Warren
Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire
Hathaway in a press release. “Mike is
committed to the strategy we have set
forth and the commitment we have out-
lined to the dealer network. We are ex-
cited to have him joining the Benjamin
Moore team”
“I am excited to be joining this talent-
ed organization at this time,” said Searles.
“The opportunities for continued success
of this iconic brand are excellent and I
look forward to working with the team
to make them a reality.”
PPG Names Sales Manager
for Latin America
PPG Industries has named Deron
Patterson international sales manager, flat glass international. A 14-year
sales veteran in the U.S. glass industry,
Patterson has been handling architectural
accounts in Texas, Louisiana and Mexico
for the past seven years while also conducting strategic business development
for PPG flat glass in Mexico. In his new
post, Patterson will retain his sales and
business development responsibilities in
Mexico while expanding his territory to
include customers in Central and South
America and the Caribbean.
As a LEED Green Associate since
2010 and a member of the Texas and
Louisiana chapters of the U.S. Green
Building Council (USGBC), Patterson
has made hundreds of presentations
about the role of high-performance glass
in promoting sustainable building at top
architectural firms throughout his sales
territories. He also is a board member of
the Texas Glass Association and a member of the Texas and Louisiana chapters
of the American Institute of Architects
(AIA) and Construction Specifications
Institute (CSI).
KODA Distribution
Group Names New Chief
Commercial Officer
KODA Distribution Group (KDG) has
named Joel W. Jones as its new chief
commercial officer. Jone’s position will
cover many critical duties at KODA
Distribution Group, including managing and enhancing KDG’s key supplier
relationships and working with the five
independent, regional company’s sales
organizations on best practices in the specialty selling process.
As CCO, Jones will be managing current suppliers, developing new strategies
for filling product gaps and working on
building upon KDG’s portfolio. In addition, he will take on the responsibility
of managing the Commercial Excellence
Program for KDG. This includes working with each KDG company’s sales force
and management team to determine how
to better serve their key customers.
Jones spent the past 29 years at The
Dow Chemical Co., where he held various positions including Northeast regional sales manager, product channel
manager and, most recently, served as a
global corporate account executive.
Hockmeyer Adds to Sales
Team
Hockmeyer Equipment has hired Robert
C. Brungard as senior vice president of
sales and marketing. He has more than
30 years of broad experience in general
management, sales, financial and opera-
tions management. In addition to this,
he has extensive international experience
having lived and worked in many parts of
the world in various roles for manufac-
turing companies. His experience in man-
agement and industries such as chemicals,
mineral processing and contract services
industries will be an excellent addition to
Hockmeyer, the company reported.
Brungard was most recently vice president and general manager for Acupac
where he served the medical, personal
care and household goods industries.
Prior to this he held increasing roles
and responsibilities during his career
with Bekaert, CP Kelco, JM Huber and
General Dynamics. He will be working
to grow Hockmeyer’s market presence
both domestically and internationally.
Resinate Materials Group
Adds Executive Vice
President of R&D
Resinate Materials Group, Inc. has appointed Rick Tabor executive vice president of R&D and technical development.
He will report directly to Brian Phillips,
CEO. In his new position Tabor will be
responsible for driving strategic initiatives and prioritizing new product development activities.
Tabor brings more than 30 years of
experience to the organization with expertise in the development of polyurethane products for diverse industries.
Prior to joining Resinate, he worked at
Stepan Company where his primary responsibility was to drive strategic new
business development efforts for key
business units. He also worked at Dow
Chemical Company where he held a
variety of positions with increasing responsibility in R&D and business development. Through his career, Tabor was
named on 42 patents and has produced
15 external publications. CW
Benjamin Moore Appoints
Michael Searles as New CEO
