DC People: Rittal, Fortrust, Wright Line, PDI

It's been a busy week for executive appointments in the data center industry. Here's a review of some of the news:

New president for Rittal: Ken Fairleigh is the new president of Rittal Corporation, a maker of IT modular enclosure, cooling and electronic packaging systems. Fairleigh has more than 25 years of experience in global sales management, marketing, distribution and operations. Prior to joining Rittal, he held positions at General Electric, Square D and Fluke, and most recently served as vice president and general manager of Rexnord in the product service group. "We are excited to welcome Mr. Fairleigh to the Rittal team, and look forward to his contributions as he leads our U.S. subsidiary in serving our customers and expanding our market share,” said Bernd Eckel, Rittal’s president of sales international.

New VP of Sales for Fortrust: Denver colocation provider Fortrust announced Thursday that Rob Timmons has joined the Denver data center team as its new Vice President of Sales. Timmons brings more than a decade of sales, management and strategic experience to Fortrust, and will be responsible for managing direct sales, agent sales, account development and marketing. Prior to joining Fortrust, Timmons held various sales and management positions with tw telecom, USLEC, Net2000 and e-spire communications. "I am extremely pleased to welcome Rob to our executive team," said Steve Knudson, chief executive officer of Fortrust. "His extensive sales leadership experience and proven abilities to impact business development and growth make him a great asset to the Denver data center team."

Martin Rogers Joins PDI: Power Distribution, Incorporated (PDI) has announced the appointment of Martin Rogers to the position of Director of Business Development. Rogers, who has extensive experience in international markets and power distribution, will lead the development of PDI’s newest product offerings. He has 15 years of progressive leadership positions with Schneider Electric, most recently as Director of Global Services and Process Improvement. Rogers will report directly to Dave Mulholland, Vice President Marketing and Service in this newly created position. PDI designs, manufactures, and distributes customized electrical equipment under the brand names PDI, Onyx, and Marelco to serve a variety of power markets.

Eacueo and Wong Join Wright Line Team: Wright Line this week today announced the appointment of Edward K. Eacueo as Director, Data Center Business Unit, and Gary P. Wong as Director, Applications Engineering. Eacueo has 25 years of global experience leading sales, marketing, and engineering organizations in information technology, commercial electronics and military markets. His expert knowledge of racks/enclosures and critical data center power and cooling applications, will guide the strategic direction, business plan and management of Wright Line's Data Center Market segment. Eacueo held several executive level positions of increasing responsibility with American Power Conversion, Pentair Electronic Packaging, Carlo Gavazzi and Raytheon. Wong will lead Wright Line's applications engineering team and provide the group with direction, structure, process, engineering support and project management guidance. Before he took on his new position with Wright Line, Wong held managerial assignments with American Power Conversion, Fidelity Investments and Kemper Insurance. "Ed and Gary, both, bring expert level experience and highly skilled capability to their new positions," said Carl Cottuli, Wright Line's Vice President of Product Development and Services.