Blue-White elects two new officers
Blue-White’s board elected two new officers in their 2023 first quarter meeting. Bill McDowell was appointed to the position of chief operating officer, and Patrick Murphy was named vice president of operations. 

Asahi/America welcomes Mike West as new sales manager
Asahi/America added Mike West as district sales manager for the Midwest sales region, which includes Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. He comes to the company with a background in water and wastewater treatment plant installations, and will assist distributors and engineers with sales and specification efforts for Asahi/America’s family of thermoplastic fluid flow products. 

Anaergia’s COO wins Innovator Award
Anaergia’s Chief Operating Officer Yaniv Scherson was honored with the Innovator Award from Waste360. Scherson was selected as part of its Waste360’s 40 Under 40 competition. The Innovator Award recognizes innovators and forward thinkers who use technology to better the industry. 

Flowserve to acquire Velan
Flowserve and Velan announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement where Flowserve will acquire Velan in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $245 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2023. Founded in Montreal in 1950, the family-controlled Velan is a manufacturer of industrial valves with a team of 1,650 people and manufacturing facilities in nine countries.

Franklin Electric welcomes new team members
Franklin Electric welcomes three new customer-facing team members to its Industrial & Engineered Systems business unit. Andrew Ross will take on the role of senior business unit manager — aftermarket, while David Gray and Marty Lehmann will serve as business unit sales managers for the Industrial Distribution and OEM business units, respectively.

Ross will lead the company’s growing aftermarket parts business, working with fleet and industrial distribution teams to provide critical parts and help customers maintain and increase the lifespan of their equipment. Lehmann joins the IES team with more than 25 years’ sales and business development experience, and will focus on bringing Little Giant’s growing product line to OEM customers. Utilizing his 20 years’ industry experience, Gray will take over responsibility for the company’s industrial distribution customers across the Southwest region.