Carbon Hall-of-Fame
Dr. Gary Hatch will be nominated to the 2005 Activated Carbon Hall-of-Fame at the International Activated Carbon Conference from Oct. 6 to 7 in Pittsburgh, Penn. He is the director of research and development at Pentair (manufacturer of PENTEK® brand water filtration products) where he has contributed to the advancement of activated carbon with the development of monitored dual-housing under-sink systems for the reduction of various drinking water contaminants. In addition to his ongoing research initiatives, Hatch was instrumental in the creation of built-in flow control, pressure regulation and automatic shut-off devices for point-of-use systems.
Nelsen expands sales staff
Nelsen Corporation has added Gayle Eckleberry to its sales staff as a representative for the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Eckleberry will provide sales and customer service from the firm’s Phoenix location and has an extensive background in water systems and wastewater treatment. “We are looking forward to integrating Gayle’s skills and experience with our distribution capabilities to provide the customer service people have come to expect from Nelsen,” said Norm Robinson, the Phoenix facility manager.
DuPage adds to sales team
DuPage Water Conditioning announces the addition of Rick A. Fisher, a 20-year veteran to the water treatment industry. Fisher will provide marketing, sales and customer support to the DuPage engineering and sales team. “He has become a respected, recognized figure in our industry,” said Matt Messley, vice president of the Wholesale Division for DuPage. “Our customers will find Rick’s career move to be a ‘winning combination’ for dealers who desire accurate, timely shipments blended with a commitment to provide the very best customer service and technical assistance available.”
CertainTeed names new VP/GM
Rose Lee has been named vice president of the Pipes and Plastics Group and general manager of the Pipe and Form-A-Drain® businesses of the CertainTeed Corporation. In the dual role, Lee is responsible for pipe manufacturing operations in Lodi, Calif., and Waco, Texas, as well as Form-A-Drain foundation systems operations in McPherson, Kansas. She will also oversee sales, marketing and product development for the group. Lee joined CertainTeed in 1999 as director of strategy and planning and has held successive management positions within CertainTeed and its parent company, Saint-Gobain.
Eurotherm appoints Davis
Eurotherm Inc. announces the appointment of Tim Davis as manager for of the company’s Leesburg Repair Center. Since 1999, Davis has served as product manager for the Eurotherm Power Products line, responsible for commercial and technical marketing and sales support. He also has experience in customer sales, field engineering and bench repair of control instrumentation. In his new role, Davis will be managing and overseeing the technicians who are responsible for diagnosing, troubleshooting and repairing all products returned to Leesburg for factory warranty and non-warranty repair.
Hydro Systems adds to sales staff
Hydro Systems International, of Plantsville, Conn., announces the addition of Cara Costantini to its staff of sales and marketing professionals. Constantini is finishing up her undergraduate work at Quinnipiac University and will graduate in the spring of 2005 with a degree in international business. She also specializes in French and European Union Studies. She will focus her efforts on creative development of marketing and sales materials for Hydro Systems’ planned line of brandedfilter products.
Ronald D. King of Blue-White Industries
Ronald D. King, Blue-White Industries’ vice president of manufacturing, has died. He was 53. Born in 1947 in West Los Angeles, Calif., the third child of Blue-White founders Ozzie and Frances King, he was an important part of Blue-White as a board member and innovator. King’s contributions to Blue-White were many and varied. In recent years, he served as the company’s vice president and was previously an ace machinist with exceptional math skills. He designed the layout for the shop and manufacturing areas of the new Blue-White Huntington Beach facility, including the design of the flowmeter testing and calibration department. Ron will be missed by so many, especially his mother, Frances King, his son Douglas, his sisters Carol Russell (Bill), Janet Gledhill (Robin), Jeanne Hendrickson (Dean) and brother Clyde King (Carole), as well as many family members, dear friends and members of the water treatment industry.
Phil Whitesel of Coast Filtration
Phil Whitesel, an innovator in the water purification industry and the man who coined the term Big Blue for 4.5” spun polypropylene filter housings, died Jan. 9. He was 77. Whitesel founded Coast Filtration in Brea, Calif., with his son Jay on Nov. 1, 1978, as a master distributorship for Pentek, known at the time as Plymouth Products. “He was influential in a lot of ways with finding new markets for the products developed by Plymouth,” Jay said. “So many of their products that are now standards for the industry started as conversations between my Dad and their product engineers.” Among his many contributions to the industry, Phil Whitesel and Coast Filtration paved the way for the residential reverse osmosis unit, selling the first RO units to big box warehouse stores Price Club, Home Base and CostCo Inc., in the late 1980s. He was also instrumental in the introduction of carbon block into the industry as a competitor to granulated and carbon paper products.