NewMakers

obituaries
Career Architectural Entrepreneur Dies
George Arthur, co-founder of Southern Stretch Forming & Fabrication in Denton, Texas, passed away May 4, after a lengthy illness. He was 83.

Arthur owned the American Window and Door Co. in Lubbock, Texas, before selling it to PPG. He then worked for PPG until leaving to start Skyfab, a curtainwall fabricator. While with Skyfab he worked on such notable projects as the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, the 52-story Figueroa and Wilshire (Big Fig) in downtown Los Angeles and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. In 1991, he founded Southern Stretch Forming with his son, David, who is the current owner.

Trident Founder Passes Away
Helen “Dizda” Kastaniuk, wife of Walter Kastaniuk and a founder of Trident Consolidated Industries, passed away on April 28. She is survived by her son Alex Kastaniuk, owner of TriView Glass, and daughter Dada Kastaniuk.

Westshore Glass Founder Dies
Lionel “Link” Elozory, the founder of Westhore Glass Corp. in Tampa, Fla., passed away on April 25.

Elozory is survived by his wife of 50 years, Anne Browning Elozory; four children; 15 grandchildren; and his sister, Edith, brother-in-law, Larry, nieces and a nephew.

Elozory was born in Tampa on October 15, 1928. After graduating from the University of Florida he entered the service as an officer and served more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy, including active duty during the Korean War. Link founded Westshore Glass Corp. in 1954 and served as chief executive officer for more than 50 years.

retirement
Bilco Announces Retirement of VP of Sales and Marketing
The Bilco Co. in West Haven, Conn., has announced the retirement of Dominic DeConciliis, its vice president of sales and marketing. DeConciliis will remain with the company through the end of September 2010 as part of its transition strategy.

During two decades with Bilco, DeConciliis spearheaded the development of the company’s international strategy, establishing a presence for Bilco and its products in more than two dozen countries around the globe. He also expanded the company’s presence in domestic markets for its existing products and through the development of new products.

kudos
PPG Employees Recognized by Local Marketing Association
The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Business Marketing Association (PCBMA) recognized several PPG Industries employees during its annual awards presentation on May 13.

Steven Sternberger, director of marketing for PPG Industrial Coatings, was named Business-to-Business Marketer of the Year. A 25-year veteran of the coatings industry, Sternberger has held technical and marketing roles at PPG for the past 13 years. He currently leads product management, pricing, marketing strategy and communications efforts for PPG’s Industrial Coatings
business in the U.S. and Canada. He was nominated in the category along with Glenn Miner of PPG Performance Glazing.

Rob Struble, also of PPG Performance Glazings, took home the award as Business-to-Business Advertiser of the Year. As a 20-year veteran in the b-to-b marketing industry, Struble is currently responsible for brand validation, creation and development for designated corporate growth initiatives such as the wind and solar energy markets and marketing communications for architectural and specialty glass. The judges in the competition took special note of integrated new product development he led, which included print and online advertising, direct mail and more. In fact, they called Struble a “Renaissance Man” for having developed a program that led to a 36-percent increase in sales.

new hires
Hartung Welcomes New Hires
British Columbia-based Lami Glass, part of Hartung Glass Canada, named Brent Cairney sales representative for the province of Alberta. Raised in the family glass business, Vancouver Island’s Alberni Glass, Cairney has worked with and around glass almost his entire life. A glazier by trade, he studied business administration at Vancouver’s Douglas College and has worked in sales with several glass fabricators in Vancouver. In addition, Cairney also worked with a glass hardware supplier for more than five years.

In addition, Hartung Glass Industries in Seattle welcomed Mike Bischof to its sales team. Bischof will work with customers in Northern California and Nevada. Bischof has more than 15 years in the new construction and replacement window industry in both wholesale and retail environments.

Bohle America Hires New Technical Sales Manager
Justin Lineberry has joined Bohle America in Charlotte, N.C., as technical sales manager. Lineberry brings many years of management experience in sales and glass processing, the last six years with an international company in the glass industry.

Prior to his professional employment Lineberry earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Virginia Tech. As technical sales manager, he will be responsible for application and sales support for the company’s customer base

resignations
Leon Silverstein is no longer president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. Inc. in Tamarac, Fla. Sun Capital, which owns Arch, has named Frank Busam as interim CEO.

Busam has served in a number of executive roles at Sun Capital Partners portfolio companies, including as president of Carolina Mirror Co. in North Wilkesboro, N.C.

Silverstein’s departure caps a 5-month period since Arch announced bankruptcy reorganization and its subsequent sale to the investment firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.

“Leon told key employees [the day prior to his resignation] that he would be leaving,” said one person with knowledge of the discussion who preferred not to be identified. “He said the family values he believed in were not necessarily those shared by Sun Capital, so he was leaving. He vowed he would be back. He asserted that he has no non-competes in place that would keep him from doing so.”

At press time, Sun Capital was unavailable for comment.

AMinuteWith...
Diana Perreiah
Kawneer North America

Diana Perreiah, who took on the role of general manager for Kawneer North America in Norcross, Ga., in April, has spent 24 years with the company in a variety of roles, from plant manager to operations manager to, most recently, vice president of business operations.

“I feel as though I have had several different careers without having to change companies. Now I am able to take those experiences and that knowledge and apply it to my current role as general manager for Kawneer North America,” Perreiah told USGlass in a recent interview.

Q: How did you get started in this industry?
A: My 24-year career in the aluminum industry began after I graduated from Hollins University where I received my bachelor of arts in computational science. Armed with a liberal arts degree with an interest in technical fields, my mother encouraged me to attend a job fair that focused on leveraging liberal arts degrees in industrial and technical companies. Alcoa was at this job fair and that was my introduction to the company and how my career in the aluminum industry began.

Q: What duties does your new job include?
A: As general manager of Kawneer North America, I have the overall responsibility to lead the business. Specifically, I am responsible for guiding the executive management team and oversight of company operations, as well as leading operational excellence, capturing productivity gains and delivering exceptional customer service …

Q: What has been your first priority in your new role? What are your goals for moving the company
forward?
A: My first priority is to continue to pursue an aggressive investment agenda. Recently, Kawneer embarked on a carefully planned initiative to provide the best customer experience in the industry and upgrade its service centers to provide greater flexibility. We are committed to improving and expanding Kawneer’s operational capabilities, growing its wide range of products and solutions, and advancing the company through technology and people. And we are seeing the results of that commitment. Our investment in new product development is beginning to pay off and we expect to launch a significant number of innovative, sustainable products in 2010. Our more efficient footprint is delivering improved lead times and delivery performance …

Finally, an ongoing goal of mine is to continue to strengthen Kawneer’s footprint and better position the company for the future. We need to take complexity out of managing the business and fully take advantage of our capacity to produce increased volumes and deliver a broader range of products and services. That will ultimately result in a Kawneer that is more responsive to market cyclicality and is more capable of servicing our customers.

Q: What is one professional pet peeve?
A: To hear “I can’t do that. That’s impossible” is incredibly frustrating to me. I like to look at how we can make the seemingly impossible, possible. Markets continue to experience an unprecedented decline. And even though there is a great deal we can’t control, it’s important to focus on what we can control and what we can do to create opportunities. Things like managing our investment strategy and recognizing that people are our most important asset …

Q: What advice would you give someone just starting in the glass/aluminum industry?
A: Learn how your industry works through hands-on roles. Try to get as broad experience as you can. If you aspire to lead, the breadth of experience and knowledge you gain from a variety of roles is invaluable when you are making bigger/ broader decisions.

Bring an unrelenting passion for continuous improvement. Change is inevitable so it is important to embrace it, to keep moving and be a part of the change—from how work is being done to how a product is being used in the industry. It’s also important to constantly renew and regenerate yourself. Learn something new at every opportunity and recognize the importance of benchmarking—understand what drives customers, markets and your competition. That’s how you stay competitive as a company as well as a person.

USG
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