WJI highlights the following appointments, promotions and obituaries for September 2026.
David Galas has been hired as a regional sales representative for Taubensee Steel & Wire Company. He previously served as national sales manager and then president of OMCG ITALIA’s North American operations, U.S. regional sales manager for WAFIOS Machinery Corporation, U.S. business development manager for Numalliance North America, and an account manager for Siemens and other industrial companies. He holds a B.S. in engineering from Miami University. Based in Wheeling, Illinois, Taubensee Steel & Wire Company manufactures and distributes steel and wire products for industrial and manufacturing markets.
Jeff Foster, vice president of business development at iNOEX LLC, has taken on responsibility for representing PiXARGUS in North America as the company expands its regional activities within the CiTEX group. He has 18 years of experience in inline metrology and automation and has led North American sales for iNOEX since 2025. In his expanded role, he will add PiXARGUS inspection systems to his portfolio, supporting customers from consultation through implementation with a focus on productivity and quality. Based in Würselen, Germany, PiXARGUS is a provider of inline inspection systems for the wire, cable and tube industries.
Brett Utsinger has been promoted to business development manager, powdered metal and chemical specialties, for Blachford Chemical Group. In his new role, he will lead business development for the company’s powdered-metal market while continuing to support its Markee product line. He has more than 20 years of hands-on machining and manufacturing experience and a background in metallurgical engineering. He joined H.L. Blachford in 2019 and has held metallurgical technologies and business-development roles supporting its chemical specialties and metalworking businesses. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Blachford supplies specialty chemicals and performance products, including powdered-metal lubricants and metalworking fluids, for industrial markets.
WireCo has named Luis Padilla chief operating officer for North America. He has nearly 30 years of rope-industry operational, technical and leadership experience. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Knowix, where he led development of an Industrial Internet of Things platform for predictive analytics and digital monitoring in rope applications. Previously, he spent nearly 15 years at Cortland Company, ultimately serving as president, where he led a multinational, multisite business, advanced operational transformation and consolidated manufacturing operations. He has also served multiple terms as president of the Cordage Institute and holds or co-invented three U.S. patents related to rope technologies, structural health monitoring and IIoT applications. Based in Leawood, Kansas, WireCo supplies steel wire rope and synthetic rope, as well as netting and electromechanical cable.
Nicholas Lance has been promoted to plant manager at Rhenium Alloys Inc. He will oversee plant production, employee training, safety procedures, production scheduling and quality standards at the company’s North Ridgeville, Ohio, facility. He joined the company as a process engineer in 2004 and was promoted to procurement specialist in 2017 and manufacturing manager in 2019. His background includes wire-department supervision and manufacturing operations. He served four years in the U.S. Army with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Based in North Ridgeville, Ohio, Rhenium Alloys Inc. manufactures refractory metals and high-temperature products, including wire and wire rod.
Geoffrey Sauer has been appointed CEO and president of Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA). He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the international trade-fair, media and technology sectors. He spent much of his career at Reed Exhibitions, now RX, advancing from international sales roles to group vice president of sales. He also held senior leadership positions, including at Emerald Expositions. In his new role, he will oversee MDNA’s strategic and operational development, including expansion of its trade-fair portfolio, development of new event formats and business models, and growth of its outbound business. Based in Düsseldorf, Germany, Messe Düsseldorf organizes trade fairs and events worldwide, including wire Düsseldorf, the world’s largest wire and cable event.
Edit Berczi has been promoted to global strategic marketing director for Dow. Based in the Zürich area, she previously served as global marketing manager and market manager for Dow’s wire and cable segment. She joined Dow in 2019 as a senior technical service and development engineer, where her work included cable-insulation-system development and technical customer support. Prior to Dow, Berczi held system-design engineering roles for high-voltage submarine cable systems at Prysmian Group, including HVDC and HVAC projects. She holds an M.Sc. in chemical engineering, with a materials-science specialization, from Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Based in the U.S., Dow is a global materials science company whose products for wire and cable include insulation, semiconductive and jacketing materials for power, telecom and specialty cable uses.
Obituaries
Robert “Bob” Gent, director of U.K.-based TapeFormers Ltd., died from cancer on June 23 at age 68. A skilled engineer, he set up a factory in 1982 with his brother, Tim, making sewing machine attachments, which transformed into TapeFormers Ltd. He was a mainstay at industry trade shows and was known for his keen ability to form metal. He was still designing and engineering tools at the Leicestershire site up until a month before he passed. His two sons, Ashley and Adam, who worked at the business, will continue his legacy.
Robert “Bob” Roland Mailloux, a wire and cable industry professional for more than 40 years, died July 19 in Atlanta, Georgia, at age 74. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he built a career as a wire and cable sales manager with J.J. Lowe Associates, a supplier to the wire, cable and plastics industries. His work involved extensive travel in Europe and Mexico. He is survived by his wife, Debra; three children, Melissa Mailloux, Andrew Mailloux and Katie Armsby; and two grandchildren.
Arthur Stanley Larman, co-founder and former president of Rotem Industrial Products, died July 25, 2026, in Toronto at age 92. In 1963, he and Roly Temple founded the company, which supplied cutting tools, fluids, lubricants, gauging and wire-processing equipment to the metalworking, wire and fastener industries. Rotem later became a father-and-son operation led by Larman and his son, Paul. He is survived by his wife, Lucy; children Adrienne, Michele, Paul and Andrea; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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