PHCC names Ingrao new CEO

The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors — National Association announced Mark S. Ingrao, CCP, CAE, has been selected as its new CEO. PHCC CEO Michael Copp will retire from PHCC in December 2021, and Ingrao officially assumes duties as CEO on Oct. 22, during PHCC’s Annual Business Meeting at PHCCCONNECT2021 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ingrao brings more than 18 years of executive-level association management experience, most recently serving as CEO of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce. He also has served as principal of Aspen Strategies and vice president of government affairs for the National Apartment Association. He began his association career with the Apartment and Office Building Association.

“Mark has a solid record in association management, a keen eye for small business, having served as a local chamber executive and experience working with construction industry stakeholders,” PHCC President Hunter Botto said. “We welcome him to our team, confident that he will continue to expand the services we offer our member contractors, strengthen our industry partnerships, and build a better future for PHCC and the industry.”

Ingrao has been exposed to the building trades his entire life; his father was a carpenter and owned a construction company specializing in high-rise multifamily and commercial complexes. Prior to his association positions, he was an associate with the executive recruiting firm of Heidrick & Struggles, manager of recruitment for the National Business Development Practice of Arthur Andersen and held various positions at Washington Gas.

Ingrao also is active with several professional and community organizations, having served on boards for the Fairfax County’s Economic Advisory Commission, Reston Hospital Center, Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance and the University of Mary Washington, among others.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Mary Washington and is a certified association executive (CAE) and a certified compensation professional (CCP).

“During my recent interactions with PHCC, I have been impressed with the passion of the members and their vision for the industry,” Ingrao said. “I look forward to working with the member-leadership and staff to develop future strategic plans for this well-respected and long-established organization, and building on the terrific achievements of the PHCC federation.”

Obituary: Sioux Chief’s Mike Stallings

Sioux Chief Director National Sales Michael Stallings died July 28 after a battle with cancer. Family and friends recently gathered for a celebration of his life in Stallings’ hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.

Stallings is survived by his wife, Donna, son Matthew, daughters Lisa (Craig), Jessica (Johnathan) and a grandson, Fin.

Stallings started his career in the plumbing industry in the early 1980s working for Plastic Oddities, holding various management positions while there. He later formed his own company, Stedco, and manufactured a line of residential drainage items, of which Sioux Chief was a customer.

In the late 1990s when Sioux Chief purchased the assets of Stedco, Stallings took a couple years to pursue other interests, but his heart and head were always with the plumbing industry. Stallings joined Sioux Chief in 2001 and managed its southeast distribution center. Shortly after, he became the regional sales manager for the southeast. Stallings advanced into the role of director of national sales for Sioux Chief in 2013 and carried out that position with great success until his passing.

Stallings was so much more than an average salesperson — distributors and plumbing contractors considered him more of a friend and consultant, Sioux Chief noted. Stallings always made it a point to show them better, easier and more efficient ways to do things, regardless of the sales numbers, the company added.

“To say Mike will be missed is a gross understatement — he is irreplaceable,” Sioux Chief said. “He was loved by coworkers, customers and competitors alike. All of us will forever benefit from having known Mike Stallings.”

Uponor sells stake in Phyn

Uponor and Belkin International have signed a share purchase agreement for the sale of Uponor’s shares in Phyn, a water-sensing and conservation technology company, to Belkin. Phyn was founded in 2016 as a joint venture between Uponor and Belkin, with both owning 50% of the company. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Uponor booked an impairment on Phyn’s valuation in its Q2 results.

“These five years have proven that Phyn is on the right path with its water leakage detection technology, yet market adoption has not reached the targeted levels,” said Jyri Luomakoski, president and CEO of Uponor Corp. “Uponor has not been able to leverage its strong presence in the wholesale channel optimally. Having only limited synergies with our building solutions businesses, we have decided to sell our stake in Phyn to Belkin.”

Hansgrohe USA tabs new president

Hansgrohe USA recently hired Robert Kaminski as president. Kaminski comes to the United States after 10 years with the Hansgrohe Group. He leads a talented team of more than 250 employees with a passion for creating captivating experiences with water, the manufacturer noted.

Before coming to the U.S., Kaminski held positions at the Hansgrohe Group as head of sales for northern and eastern Europe, and as vice president of sales for North America, a role he continues to hold. He brings a unique perspective to the market after spending recent years at the company’s headquarters in the Black Forest, and previously managing Hansgrohe Poland as president. Kaminski’s long history of sales and marketing excellence includes implementing strategies that produced record sales for the brand in Poland, the company noted. Before joining the Hansgrohe team, Kaminski held key positions with Philips Consumer Electronics, Sony Corp. and Haier.

Kaminski is enthusiastic about the opportunity to grow the AXOR and Hansgrohe brands in the United States.

“Our mission continues — to enhance people’s lives with water,” Kaminski said. “We are doing this every day. However, our goal is to grow this market exponentially in the coming years with extensive product collections and more brand awareness. The U.S. is one of Hansgrohe’s most important markets, and one of our goals is to build on our current success to become one of the top-selling subsidiaries outside Germany. We want as many people in the U.S., as possible, to experience water with Hansgrohe. We truly offer performance you can feel.”

ICC names Anderson PMG director

The International Code Council announced Richard Anderson will join the organization as a director of plumbing, mechanical and fuel gas (PMG) resources in the government relations department. As part of his responsibilities, Anderson will work with the Code Council’s team of experts to develop, coordinate, and implement PMG programs and services related to the International Codes (I-Codes).

“Building codes and standards create an ecosystem of building policies that ensure the safety of our buildings and safeguard the health and wellbeing of building occupants,” said Dominic Sims, CBO and CEO of ICC. “As topics such as water and energy efficiency become greater concerns for communities, we understand the importance of having a proven leader like Richard Anderson join our team to provide his expertise and insights as a knowledgeable voice in this space.”

With 23 years of building safety and PMG experience, most recently Anderson represented the City of Fort Collins (Colorado) as a chief building official where he oversaw the enforcement of all building codes for the city.

ARS names Midgett chief sales/marketing officer

American Residential Services, a national provider of residential HVAC and plumbing services, announced the appointment of Mike Midgett as chief sales and marketing officer.

Midgett joins ARS with more than 30 years of experience as a sales and marketing professional and leader, the firm noted. He will be responsible for developing and executing the strategic plans for sales and marketing, as well as the overall branding, promotion and communication strategies. Midgett will help enable the sales-related activities underpinning ARS’ ambitious growth objectives.

“With the creation of this new role, I am pleased to have hired a highly talented executive in Mike who adds further depth to our management team as we continue to build and grow our business,” said Scott Boose, CEO of ARS. “Mike’s skillsets and prior experiences as an entrepreneur and chief sales and marketing officer for customer-facing organizations will greatly help us design and execute high-impact transformational growth strategies to deliver greater value to our customers.”

Before joining ARS, Midgett was the founder and CEO for Qoreboard, a SaaS company that delivers a platform to build frontline employee engagement and daily performance into sustainable long-term results.

IPEX to open North Carolina plant

IPEX announced a major investment in a new state-of-the-art injection molding plant to be built in Pineville, North Carolina. The new facility will encompass Industry 4.0, including artificial intelligence, and will significantly increase the company’s ability to manufacture fittings for plumbing, electrical, industrial and municipal applications.

The nearly 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is being custom designed and built, and will become the technological flagship for the company’s operations and one of the most advanced plastics manufacturing facilities in the industry, IPEX pointed out. The plant’s flexible automation capabilities will enable total automation for all facets of sorting, labelling, counting, packing and assembly, it added.

To ensure world-class safety results from day one, the facility will incorporate industry-leading health and safety best practices, IPEX said. The plant’s automation capabilities will eliminate the majority of manual repetitive processes and tasks, and the production floor will be forklift-free, with vehicles auto-guided by artificial intelligence, increasing plant safety. Also, with sustainability in mind, the plant will be fully climate-controlled, use energy-efficient lighting, and high-efficiency machines to reduce the use of both electricity and water.

Given the importance that IPEX places on innovating to create new products and ideas to fulfil customer needs, the plant layout will also provide IPEX with space for testing and prototyping a great number of new products already in development, the manufacturer noted.

This new facility will increase production capacity substantially and will provide new career and job opportunities, with the expectation to hire more than 150 people from the local area. The plant’s use of Industry 4.0 will increase the need for supervisory, technical and quality control positions, IPEX added.

“This new plant is an exciting endeavor for IPEX, our customers, employees and the surrounding community. It is an integral part of our continued growth plans in North America,” said Alex Mestres, IPEX CEO. “This level of investment in new technologies, cloud connectivity and flexible automation will make this plant a learning showcase for the rest of our operations and will allow us to better serve our customers with added flexibility, response time and innovative products.”

Construction of IPEX’s groundbreaking facility is expected to be finalized in late 2022 with full operations expected to start in early 2023. Once the project is completed, the Pineville site, which includes an existing molding facility, will be home to nearly 100 injection-molding machines, IPEX’s biggest molding complex.

IPEX has announced significant expansion plans this year. The Pineville manufacturing plant is the company’s fourth new facility announcement in 2021, following three new distribution centers in Garland, Texas in the U.S., and in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in Canada.

Rinnai names Kiley VP of operations

Tankless gas water heater manufacturer Rinnai America Corp. announced Shelley Kiley has joined the organization as its vice president of operations. Kiley’s extensive knowledge, will help Rinnai continue to grow and expand manufacturing capabilities in North America, including overseeing the completion of its new manufacturing plant in Griffin, Georgia, the company explained. In addition, Kiley has assumed responsibility over all functional areas in manufacturing, supply chain, distribution and logistics.

“I am very excited to join Rinnai America and look forward to leading the operations team as we continue to drive operational excellence and expand our manufacturing capability in North America,” Kiley said. “I look forward to supporting Rinnai, delivering on our promise of ‘Creating a Healthier Way of Living,’ as well as spearheading the operational initiatives that will continue to drive growth.”

Kiley has cultivated deep experience throughout a 30-year career, having most recently spent three years leading a team of 650 within the supply chain and global operation strategy teams at Larson-Juhl. Prior to that, Kiley had a distinguished 11-year tenure with Moen, where she rapidly progressed from plant manager to holding several executive leadership roles, including vice president of global supply chain and manufacturing, where she led 2,000 employees.