Appointments (August 01, 2010)

Kim Bishop, Bestbuy Distributors Limited’s national director of sales and marketing, has announced the appointment of two seasoned veterans to its sales team. Steve McGarrity has been appointed business development manager for Atlantic Canada, and Kennedy Costa has been appointed business development manager for Ontario. Prior to joining Bestbuy, Costa was the business development manager for another national auto parts distributor, as well as a former territory manager for a parts manufacturer. McGarrity served for the past twenty-two years as the Atlantic Canada district manager for a major belt and hose manufacturer. Both Costa and McGarrity will report directly to Kim Bishop.

PPG Industries’ automotive refinish business has announced a restructuring of its North American sales and marketing organization, with a number of key leadership changes. Bob Burgess has been appointed director, training and sales development. He will be responsible for the development of training and strategies for the refinish sales force. Brett Candler has been named to replace Burgess as sales zone director, zone 1. The zone will be realigned to add region 2, headed by Randy Koch. According to Benckart, the realignment will enhance PPG’s ability to support customers in their transition to using waterborne basecoat in the northeastern United States. Steve Zweig joins the refinish business as sales zone director for zone 3, which has been realigned to include PPG’s refinish business in Canada. Zweig was formerly with PPG’s Architectural Coatings business as zone sales director, Midwest and West. Jean-Guy Rosa has been appointed director, refinish, Canada, after serving in this role on an interim basis since December 2009. Rosa joined PPG in 1992 and has held positions of increasing responsibility within training, value-added services and management, most recently serving as regional manager for Quebec and the Atlantic Region of Canada. He will report to Zweig. John Parran has been appointed director, marketing, refinish, United States and Canada. In his new role, Parran will oversee strategies and initiatives encompassing product marketing, customer service, communications, and pricing. Mark Juell was named to replace Parran as sales zone director, zone 2. He joined PPG in 1991 as a technical sales instructor and most recently worked as a regional manager.

Tony D’Acquisto has been named sales manager for the automotive aftermarket channel for the Valspar Corporation. The announcement was made by Lance S. Bunch, category manager of automotive aftermarkets and industrial distribution MRO for Valspar. At Valspar, D’Acquisto will have national account responsibility, serving key retail and commercial accounts in the North American automotive aftermarket. He will focus on working with customers to provide solutions and optimize sales as related to the automotive paint category, further establishing the PlastiKote brand of products in the marketplace. For the past seven years, D’Acquisto has worked for Littelfuse, Inc.

Battery maker Exide Technologies has announced that James R. Bolch has been appointed president and chief executive officer. Bolch has also joined the Exide board of directors. Bolch will succeed Gordon A. Ulsh, Exide’s current chief executive officer, who retired and stepped down from the board on July 26. Ulsh, 64, who has served Exide in this leadership capacity since April of 2005, had previously informed the board of his intention to retire as part of the company’s long-term succession planning process.