Appointments of various manufacturer personnel.

  • Red-White Valve Corp. announced that Giovanni Rizzio has been named president of its U.S. operations. Rizzio comes from VIR of Italy, where he was senior vice president. VIR is a market leader in the production of ball valves and other control devices in Europe, and the major shareholder of Red-White. Rizzio will relocate in California from his current home in Milan.

  • Stride Tool, a designer and manufacturer of specialty hand tools, named Ron Ortiz its CEO. He replaces Lori Northrup, who will continue as chairman.

  • A.O. Smith Water Products Co. appointed Steve Anderson as vice president of operations, responsible for the company's residential and commercial water heater manufacturing operations in Ashland City, Tenn., McBee, S.C., Renton, Wash., and Juarez, Mexico. He comes from IMI Cornelius of Chicago, a manufacturer of beverage dispensing equipment. A.O. Smith Corp. named Mark A. Petrarca as its vice president of human resources and affairs. Previously, he was the vp of human resources for the company's Water Products Co.

  • Elkay promoted Bob Seeley to executive vice president, marketing, sales and product management. He has been with the company since 1997. Before joining Elkay he spent 25 years with General Electric. The company also named Stephen Rogers as vice president, engineering. He had spent 27 years with Inland Steel Co. in a variety of managerial positions. Elkay also announced the appointment of Donna Horowitz to vice president, human resources. Her career stretches more than 20 years, most recently with Underwriters Laboratories and Motorola.

  • Sloan Valve named Kem Davis as product line manager for manual faucets, beginning Feb. 1. He had worked for 23 years at T&S Brass, most recently as vice president of sales.

  • Danfoss hired Andres Lacassie as its market manager for its Commercial Refrigeration group. Prior to joing the company, he was product manager for Tyler Refrigeration, a subsidiary of Carrier Corp. The company also named Houston Mason as manager, Freight and Distribution. His responsibilities include managing logistics provider relationships and the operation of three North American warehouses. He came from Toyota of North America.

  • Armstrong Pumps has announced several new appointments: John Nicolaou is buyer/planner - pumps, domestic; Darren Vanderburgh as value stream manager -pumps; Chai Harjo as senior network and system architect; Nancy Boulton is service advisor in the warranty administration department; Sami Elkhazin is a marketing specialist - heat exchanger and expansion; Mohammad Albarghouthi is HVAC systems design engineer - packaged systems; Toni Rose Ching as digital media systems administrator; Rodney D.M. Brandon as marketing specialist - hydronics; and Allan Raun as process development engineer.

  • Mike Chandler has been named vice president - Fixtures Marketing, Kohler Brand at Kohler Co. In this position, he will be responsible for all Kohler brand fixtures product and channel marketing.

  • Tyco International recently appointed communications vice presidents for two of its core business segments. James Pomeroy will oversee marketing and communications at Tyco Engineered Products & Services, and Gwen Fisher will lead operations at Tyco Plastics & Adhesives.

  • Cash Acme named Joe Sherrill product manager/marketing development and Jorden Hill marketing coordinator. Sherrill joined the company in 1997 and most recently was quality manager. Before that he spent seven years with Americold. Hill is a graduate of the Univ. of Alabama with a degree in marketing and computer science.

  • Watts Water Technologies promoted Alan Squires to the position of vice president of sales - wholesale plumbing & heating products. He is the former president of the Georgia chapter of ASSE and a certified backflow tester. The company also hired Zach Hudgins as Southeast regional sales manager for Watts' wholesale plumbing and heating products; promoted Scott Bardreau to national sales manager for Watts Wholesale Plumbing and Heating Products; and named Bill Tracey national marketing manager.

  • Clark Hale joined Victaulic Co. as vice president of operations. He had been president of Emerson Corp.'s Copeland Div., which makes refrigeration equipment. Prior to that, he served as vice president of operations for ASCO Power Technologies and ASCO Valve Inc., as well as president of ASCO Valve Domestic.

  • Grohe named Patrick Kimener as its new national sales manager. He had been vice president of sales at Chicago Faucet since 2002. Prior to joining them, he had spent more than 17 years in the plumbing wholesale business, including a stint from 1995-98 as vice president of The Granite Group, headquartered in Concord, N.H.

  • Crane Valves North America has eliminated its national sales manager positions for the U.S. and Canada. Bruce Lyons, the former U.S. head, is filling the open regional sales manager position in the Midwest. Tim Butcher takes over as OEM sales manager.

  • LENOX, a manufacturer of power tool accessories, hand tools and band saw blades, added three members to its marketing team: John Sullivan as senior product manager, Linear Edge division; Sean Boyle, senior product manager for knives and blades; and Reid Cheatham , associate product manager for band saw baldes, Industrial division.