News Makers

changes
Harmon President Leaves; Role Filled by VPs and Apogee CEO 
Chuck Mowrey, who was named president of Harmon Inc. in 2003 (see September 2003 USGlass, page 78), left the company on January 4. Harmon’s parent company, Apogee Enterprises Inc., has decided not to fill that position. Instead, that void has been filled by several individuals. 

Among those individuals are Tom Niepokoj, who will continue as vice president of sales, while Dennis Pilkinton serves as vice president of operations. Both Niepokoj and Pilkinton report directly to Russ Huffer, chief executive officer of Apogee Enterprises. 

obituaries 
CRL Vice President Jim Audette Passes Away 
Jim Audette, vice president and assistant to the president of Los Angeles-based C.R. Laurence Co. Inc. (CRL), passed away on December 9.  

Born December 13, 1940, Audette worked with CRL for 44 years. He was heavily involved with the development of many of CRL’s products, according to the company. He helped create CRL catalogs and assisted in the design and construction of many of CRL’s facilities, including the headquarters campus and the branch warehouses.  

In his spare time, Audette was a dedicated fisherman.  

“He was a true professional and a great friend,” says Don Friese, chief executive officer, and close friend of Audette’s. “He contributed so much to this company. He was one of the most talented people ever to be a part of CRL. He will be deeply missed by all of us.”  

Audette is survived by his wife, Ramona, and three children.

Arizona Shower Door Branch Manager, Dies 
Arizona Shower Door in Phoenix has reported the passing of Frank Starr. The Denver branch manager passed away on February 10. Starr is survived by his wife, Cindy, and two daughters. 

kudos
Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators Honors Paul Duffer 
The Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators (SGCD) has announced that Paul Duffer, former senior research associate of PPG Industries, will be honored with the 2008 Frank Child Award. The award is given annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of glass and/or ceramic decorating. Duffer was chosen based on “his numerous technological advances and patents” and general “outstanding technical achievement,” according to Myra Warne, administrative director of SGCD. “This came as a real surprise to me,” says Duffer. “A real honor, indeed, coming from this particular group of people.”

The formal presentation of the award will take place at SGCD’s annual convention, Deco 2008, which will be held April 16-19, 2008, at the Omni Champions Gate Resort in Orlando, Fla. Duffer retired from PPG on January 31. He had been employed by the company for nearly 31 years. “For me, this represents a long anticipated event that has been allowed to come to fruition as a result of number of factors,” Duffer says. 

Edgetech President Named Person of the Year
The City of Cambridge, Ohio, recently has named Edgetech I.G. President Michael B. Hovan its Person of the Year for his many contributions to the community. “I am representing all of Edgetech because so many on our team are actively involved in making Cambridge a better place to live and work,” Hovan said in accepting the honor. “Our company philosophy encourages employees to be passionate about their causes by giving them time off when needed to volunteer in the community. It is rare that companies are able to do this, but we feel that it is very important to give back.”

While Hovan is personally active in many community organizations, the Edgetech team collectively contributes time and resources to the United Way of Guernsey and Noble Counties, Relay for Life, the Cambridge YMCA, the Cambridge Main Street Project, the American Red Cross, the Guernsey Leadership program and the Police Benevolence Program, among others.

“This is a great honor, and I accept the award on behalf of the entire Edgetech team,” Hovan said. “We are grateful to the City of Cambridge and look forward to continuing our support of the community.” 

promotions 
Asahi Glass Creates, Changes Positions
Asahi Glass has created the positions of chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) and president and chief operating officer (COO), subject to the approval of the ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held in late March and the meeting of the board of directors to be held on the same day.

Masahiro Kadomatsu, the current representative director, president and CEO, will become the representative director, chairman of the board, chairman and CEO. Kazuhiko Ishimura, currently the senior executive officer and general manager of the electronics and energy general division, will become representative director, president and COO.

Shinya Ishizu, currently director and chairman of the board, will retire from the board of directors.

The Wagner Companies Promotes Three, Hires One
The Wagner Cos. in Milwaukee has announced that Patrick Hutchinson has been promoted into the new position of director of engineering services. He will assume responsibility for estimating and product/process engineering. Hutchinson joined the company in June 2001 as a quality systems engineer. Prior to coming to Wagner, he was with Milsco Inc. where he was a manufacturing engineer. 

Justin Wesser has been promoted to the position of manager of quality services, where he will be responsible for quality assurance efforts. Wesser joined Wagner in March 2004 as a manufacturing engineer. 

Jeff Wissbroecker has been promoted to estimator/customer service representative. He will be responsible for preparing customer quotes, as well as providing training to current estimators and customer service representatives. He has been with the company for ten years.  

In addition, Debra A. Emmer has been hired as a quality supervisor. In this position, Emmer will be responsible for the implementation, maintenance and continuous improvement of the quality processes necessary for Wagner to sustain an ISO-compliant business system. She brings 30 years of experience in the metal forming industry. 

new hires
Vistawall Names New Product Development Manager 
The Vistawall Group in Terrell, Texas, has named George Gonzalez protective glazing products manager for its product development team. Gonzalez recently served as general manager of ImpactWindows.com Inc. in Miami. He also was co-founder of Smith Mountain Impact Systems Inc., also in Miami, where he served as senior vice president and chief operating officer.

Ed McMahan has joined the company as a sales representative for the Houston area. McMahan has 25 years of sales and sales management experience in the commercial glazing and glass industry. He previously was with Arch Aluminum & Glass in Magnolia, Texas, and before that was branch manager of Arch Aluminum & Glass in Florida.

In addition, the company announced that Bill Lang, product development manager, has achieved the title of LEED-accredited professional. Lang, who has 23 years of experience in the architectural metals industry and 18 years of experience in product development, is a registered professional engineer. 

clarification
We all know what happens when you assume. Which is just what our editorial staff did when running a news item on one Mr. Kelly Townsend in our January 2008 issue. Notice that Kelly is not a Ms. as our editors assumed. We regret the error and send our apologies to Mr., not Ms., Townsend. 

For more people in the news, visit www.usglassmag.com or CLICK HERE. 

USG
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