Uponor North America (Uponor) has named Erica Amévo as vice president of human resources and Matt Bahr as vice president of sales. Amévo will be based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and Bahr will be based in Washington, D.C. Both positions will report to Andres Caballero, president, Uponor North America, and will also be members of the company’s Senior Management Committee (SMC).
As the interim vice president of human resources for the past eight months and with more than 17 years in the field, Amévo has dedicated the majority of her career to supporting the most important asset of any organization: its people. Beginning as the operations training manager with Uponor more than 10 years ago, then moving from sr. manager to director before becoming the interim vice president of human resources, Amévo holds a wealth of experience developing and implementing innovative HR strategies. She also has previous experience in both operations and accounting, in addition to human resources, prior to joining Uponor.
In her permanent role as vice president, she will provide strategic leadership to ensure Uponor continues to recruit and retain the very best to advance the company’s People-First initiatives. Her role includes developing strategies to address talent acquisition and retention, employee training, engagement, compensation, and benefits, as well as HR policies and practices, and community relations. She will also collaborate closely with global HR teams to implement shared initiatives and alignment with North American needs. In addition to continuing to serve on the SMC, she will also be a part of the Global HR Leadership Team.
Amévo holds a bachelor of science in communication studies from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has earned several certifications, including SHRM/HRCI (PHR), Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, and the University of Minnesota College of Education Continuing Education (HR Generalist).
As the new vice president of sales, Bahr moves into this role with 11 years of experience in sales and sales operations. For seven years, he has served Uponor in several roles with escalating responsibility, including sr. director of Sales in the U.S., regional sales director, business development manager, and technical sales representative. Before Uponor, he held sales management positions at Victaulic and Hayward Flow Control.
In his new role, Bahr is responsible for providing a hands-on approach to generating new sales, cultivating new and existing client relationships, and driving the sales process to meet revenue and growth targets. He will oversee field sales in North America, rep agency relationships, inside sales, customer service, sales operations, and training, while also partnering closely with marketing to align on programming and channel strategies to enable strong customer experiences. He will also oversee the Canada business to ensure growth, profitability, and alignment to the North American business strategy.
Bahr holds a bachelor of arts in communication from the University of Colorado in Boulder, an MBA from Concordia University in Irvine, California, and is currently completing an executive master’s in leadership at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has also completed several business and leadership training programs, including Oliver Wight, Carew International, and Dale Carnegie. Additionally, he is a national affiliate member of MCAA as well as a member of AIM/R, ASPE, and ASHRAE.
“I am excited to promote Erica and Matt into these key leadership roles to advance our People-First culture and to accelerate our profitable growth trajectory,” said Caballero. “They are both extremely talented individuals with an exemplary history at Uponor that has elevated our HR and sales organizations as well as the company as a whole. I’m confident their respective strengths, coupled with their determination and passion, will continue to provide excellence in leadership and advancement for Uponor.”