Southwire announced changes to its executive leadership team, including adding two new leadership positions. Juan Hernandez has been named Executive Vice President (EVP), Residential and Commercial Group. He joined the company in 1997, and most recently was senior vice president of infrastructure. He will join the executive leadership team. Veronica Braker will maintain her position on the executive leadership team with an expanded role as executive vice president, operations. She joined Southwire last year, leading strategic efforts such as environmental health and safety, quality, maintenance, lean, modernization and vertical integration. The company also named Rohan Kelkar as executive vice president, utility and industrial group. He most recently worked for Schneider Electric as EVP for its global Power Products business from 2021 until present. He previously spent more than 20 years at General Electric serving in executive roles. He will lead the utility and industrial groups as one unit while serving on the executive leadership team. Hernandez and Braker will formally assume their new roles on March 31. Based in Carrollton, Georgia, USA, Southwire is one of the world’s largest wire and cable manufacturers.

As part of a series of realignments, LAPP Group CEO Matthias Lapp will devote his full attention to his duties as CEO of LAPP Group, handing over his role as CEO of the important EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) to Michael Seddig as of April 1, 2025. Seddig has been responsible for purchasing, production and logistics in the region as COO EMEA at LAPP since July 2023. The family initiated the handover to the third generation in 2022, when Andreas Lapp and Siegbert E. Lapp withdrew from the LAPP Group’s operational business. Matthias Lapp took over as CEO from Andreas Lapp after 12 years with the company. Katharina Lapp succeeded Siegbert E. Lapp on the LAPP Group’s Supervisory Board. Since then, Matthias Lapp has fulfilled his role as CEO of the Group in addition to his EMEA role. Before joining LAPP, Seddig held global, customer-facing management positions at LEONI, a supplier of cable solutions and wiring systems for the automotive industry. In parallel, Andreas Lapp is stepping down as chairman of the Supervisory Board of the European parent company U.I. Lapp GmbH. He will be succeeded by his nephew Matthias Lapp, who will join as chairman of the Supervisory Board after stepping down from the EMEA management. Based in Stuttgart, Germany, LAPP manufactures a wide range of products for the wire and cable industry, with some 5,800 employees worldwide.

 Ahmet Kabaktepe has been named director of sales - north at Marmon Industrial Energy and Infrastructure. He previously served as vice president of sales & marketing for Sark Wire Corp., where he worked in multiple roles for more than 14 years. Prior to that he was a marketing specialist for Sarkuysan A.S. in Turkey. He holds a B.Sc. degree in metallurgical engineering from Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi. A division of U.S.-based Marmon Electrical, Marmon Industrial Energy and Infrastructure produces electronic wire and cable products.

Johannes Weber was promoted from service account manager to service manager for Niehoff Endex North America. He has 25 years of field service experience with the Niehoff Group. He started his career in Germany and relocated in 2017 to the US. His last role was as service account manager. He replaces Rene Isael, who joined Niehoff in 1997 and has retired. Based in Swedesboro, New Jersey, Niehoff Endex North America is the U.S. business of Germany’s Maschinenfabrak Niehoff GmbH & Co.  KG, a leading manufacturer of nonferrous wire and cable machinery. 

David Devoe was recently named the new president/CEO of John Evans and Sons. He had previously worked for more than 30 years for Plymouth Spring, including serving as president there since 1994. He currently serves as the president of the New England Spring & Metalstamping Association (NESMA). Based in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, John Evans and Sons was founded in 1850. It was acquired by Lesjöfors, a Swedish spring manufacturer that is part of the  Beijer Alma Group.

Eland Cables announced two positions for its international team. Aaron Ellis was named head of key projects (EMEA). He most recently was at JDR Cables Systems, where he worked for 11 years, most recently as sales manager, renewables. His experience of large-scale installations will serve him well alongside his degree in engineering as he takes on an EMEA role covering key projects. Patrick Marx was named country manager for Germany and Austria. He has more than 20 years in the industry, including serving as director of sales for Central Europe. Still based in Germany, he will lead the company’s German-speaking European-based customer offerings. Based in London with its principal operations in Yorkshire, Eland Cables is a power, data, control and instrumentation cable supplier, primarily serving the energy infrastructure in Europe.

 
Obituary

Paul James Wagner, the chairman and CEO of Minnesota Wire, died Jan. 7, 2025, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 1985, Wagner joined the company founded by his father, Fred Wagner, in sales. At the time, the company specialized in computer cable. Over the years, Paul Wagner changed the company’s scope, focusing on wire for the medical industry in 1990. He became president in 1992 and CEO in 2000. In 2003, the company began providing wire for the defense industry, including for products such as PDAs, night vision goggles and headset communication systems as well as military vehicles. It later extended to space technology sectors.

Paul Wagner was seen as a CEO who identified as the average man. To him, everyone mattered. Under his leadership, he and his company received numerous recognitions. He was named a 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® and a Distinguished Career Award winner by the Wire & Cable Manufacturers’ Alliance in 2020. Most recently, his company was named Business of the Year (2024) by the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce for its excellence in innovation, growth and community impact. He gave his time and talent to a multitude of organizations. He held a degree in business with an emphasis in management from the University of St. Thomas. He is survived by his wife, Cindy, daughters Lauren Kaniho and Kelsey Gustafson, and multiple grandchildren.