People – August 2007

• Marmo Machinery USA appoints James A. Willockx as service technician for installing and servicing the Southfield, Mich., company’s machines, bridge saws, edge polishing machines and environmental equipment. He brings 25 years experience to his new position in systems service and development, and earned a Certified Master Mechanic license in 1982.
• Biesse America names Marty Weil as North American marketing communications manager for coordinating the company’s overall internal and external marketing communications strategy as well as programs to identify and build support for the Biesse brand. He comes to the Charlotte, N.C.-based company with 20 years of award-winning professional experience in marketing communications strategic planning and management.
• KMT Waterjet Systems Inc. appoints Robert Pedrazas as marketing manager for the Americas and Antonio Diaz as Regional Sales Manager-Mexico. Before coming to the Baxter Springs, Kan., company, Pedrazas served as marketing vice president for National Partitions in Knoxville, Tenn.; Diaz was a regional sales manger for ELE Internacional Inc. in Mexico and Central America.
• Dirk Barrett is the new North Central regional sales manager for Jet Edge Inc., and is responsible for sales in western Iowa, Michigan’s upper peninsula, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Wisconsin and Wyoming, along with Manitoba. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in sales and marketing in the floor-coverings industry to the St. Michael, Minn., waterjet company.
• MAPEI Americas hires Jeff Leone as its director of strategic marketing. He brings 24 years of expertise in product-development planning to the Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based company, including work with BASF/Basell Polyolefins.
• Marble & Granite Gallery appoints Robin Lucka as showroom consultant. Prior to joining the Southfield, Mich., company, Lucka worked for seven years in the ceramic and natural-stone industry, including sales at Architectural Stone in Troy, Mich.
• Michele Izzo joins Real Stone & Granite of Boynton Beach, Fla., as a sales-and-marketing representative. She’s been involved in the construction industry for more than a decade in purchasing and management.
• Bonsal American promotes Dale Thornbury and Jared Ziegler to regional sales managers for the Bonsal American Building Materials Independent Group (BMI). Thornbury, former territory sales manager for Michigan, northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana, heads up the Central region; Ziegler, a former territory sales manager and commercial specialist, will handle the Northeast.
• Laura Plude was elected vice president of finance of Rock of Ages Corp. and will assume the position of CFO. She joined the Concord, N.H. quarrier in 1999, and served as director of finance since August 2004. She succeeds Nancy Rowden Brock as CFO; Brock, who joined Rock of Ages in 2005, will expand her role with Worth Mountain Capital Partners in Middlebury, Vt.