Volvo Rents, owned by Enrique Irizzary of CASCO Rental, LLC, and managed by Rick Owens, will expand into the South Florida market with the opening of a store in Pompano Beach at 3120 NW 16th Terrace. Their other locations include stores serving the Fort Myers, Port St. Lucie and Tampa markets.
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Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. recently announced expanded roles for two of its senior vice presidents. This included the promotion of Vincent K. Petrella, senior vice president and CFO, and George Blankenship, senior vice president, Global Engineering and U.S. Operations, to expanded roles within the company. Petrella now has responsibility for the Lincoln Electric Company of Canada added to his duties, including sales, marketing and operations.
Blankenship was promoted to the newly created position of president, Lincoln Cleveland, and will have marketing, sales and operations responsibility for the company’s major domestic operations, including its Euclid and Mentor, OH plants. In addition, he will continue to lead the company’s global R&D and technology transfer functions.
Both executives will report to John M. Stropki, chairman and CEO.
In other news, Lincoln Electric has appointed Scott Funderburk as global business segment director – pipelines. He will be responsible for building the company’s global capabilities and customer relationships for the pipeline segment.
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Godwin Pumps recently announced promotions within its North American operations. The company’s Richmond, VA branch manager, Mark O’Sullivan was promoted to district manager of its Richmond and Raleigh, NC locations. The company’s Upper Marlboro, MD branch is now headed by Tom Vance, while Jennifer Saindon was promoted to office manager at the Norwich, CT branch and Pat Redmond was promoted to service manager of the Helena, MT branch.
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The following two senior executives were recently appointed at Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC: Gary A. Kruse, vice president, general counsel and secretary and John J. Turner vice president, Finance and controller.
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Central Plastics Company of Shawnee, OK has acquired Gainesville, TX-based Connectra Fusion Technologies LLC from its co-owners, Christie Capital and TD Williamson.
Under the terms of the agreement, Connectra will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Central Plastics and continue to operate under the Connectra name. Connectra President Ron Underwood will continue to oversee company operations which will remain in Gainesville
OBITUARIES
Alan Scott Jacob, president of Energy Solutions International Inc. and career technology executive in the pipeline industry, died unexpectedly at his Cypress, TX home, February 15, 2008. He was 50. Jacob is survived by his wife Zoe, sons Lucas and David, his mother Jewell, sisters Normagean and Leslie, and many other family members and friends. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to a charity of your choosing.
Roger Johnson, 55, manager of pipelines for Snelson Companies Inc., passed away Feb. 22, of a heart attack while attending the Pipeline Contractors Association Convention in Maui, HI. He is survived by his wife, Sidney, and two sons, Adam and Aaron. A Celebration of Life was held on April 5 at the Gig Harbor Yacht Club in Gig Harbor, WA. A memorial fund in Johnson’s name has been set up with The American Heart Association: File 30947, P.O. Box 60000, San Francisco CA 94160. Donations received will be forwarded to the Washington State American Heart Association and acknowledgments sent to Sidney Johnson.
Robert H. Hamil died Feb. 21. Hamil was a heavy equipment operator in the 1960s and 1970s when his natural ability and skills as a utility welder and mechanic brought him to one of the first projects in the Houston area that involved horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The project involved a crossing of Greens Bayou that was carried out by Titan Contractors. A few years later he was asked by Don Hardin to help build the first rack and pinion HDD rigs for BERCO, which was an adaptation of Baker Manufacturing’s jack-up work boat.
In 1983, when Don Hardin and Hugh O’Donnell started Spie HDI, Hamil was the driving force behind the new and improved second generation rack and pinion rigs, of which he built four in just two years. In 1989, Hamil teamed up with Marcus Laney, Dickey Laney and Steve Laney, to form Laney Directional Drilling Co. to design, build and operate some of the most successful HDD rigs to date.
