Business Briefs: August 2015

Tom Herriges, president and CEO of Clearwater SpasClearwater Spas Appoints New CEO

Clearwater Spas and its parent company Thermal Hydra Plastics is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Herriges as the company’s new president and CEO. Herriges replaces interim CEO Bob King; King will continue as a part-time COO for a period of time.

Herriges has more than 30 years of experience as an executive leader in manufacturing, engineering, and distribution companies. His background includes both business and mechanical engineering, with experience across several industries from building products to consumer products. Most recently, Herriges served as was the president and general manager of Mikron Industries in Kent, Washington, a company known as a manufacturer and supplier to the door and window industries. He also worked with the 3M Company and Honeywell.

SeaKlear Celebrates Staff Anniversaries

Dr. Everett Nichols and Terry Arko

HaloSource Inc, parent company to the well-known SeaKlear brand of pool and spa water treatment products, is pleased to congratulate Dr. Everett Nichols and Terry Arko on their 20th anniversaries with the company. Nichols is the scientific director of water treatment technologies and manager of intellectual property for HaloSource and has directed and participated in the discovery, development and commercial launch of a variety of SeaKlear products as well as products in the industrial, storm and aquaria water markets.

Terry Arko has championed the SeaKlear brand for the past 20 years as the company’s “recreational water specialist,” and is well known throughout the industry for his articles and seminars on water chemistry in pools and spas as a CPO course instructor through the National Swimming Pool Foundation.

“We are so fortunate to have such incredible talent in our organization,” says Martin Coles, CEO of Halosource, parent company to the SeaKlear brand of products. “Everett and Terry have fundamentally influenced the success of the SeaKlear brand in our industry.”

Master Spas Promotes Key Executives

Sam Badiac has been promoted to executive vice president. Badiac has been part of the management team since the beginning of Master Spas almost 20 years ago and has been in the spa industry for more than 35 years.

Because of his wide range of experience and expertise, he plays a vital role in the leadership of many different departments as well as the development and design of new products.

In addition, Kevin Richards has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing. Richards started working at Master Spas in water testing right out of college and has managed both Master Spas’ retail store and customer service. He was quickly promoted to national sales manager and has been instrumental in the development of Master Spas’ dealer network. Kevin has been with the company for 19 years.

Michael Wite, Valerie Steinberg and Jennifer Dwiggins
GAME Announces Three New Hires

Michael White has joined GAME as director of sales of specialty channels and markets. In this role, White will assume direct responsibility for the key pool and spa clients and overall accountability for the pool and spa channel.

White comes from Strong Spas where he was the VP of sales and marketing. He spent more than nine years growing the business to one of the most dominating spa manufactures in North America. He can be reached at [email protected].

Valerie Steinberg has joined the sales team as a sales account manager and will help White grow and manage the pool and spa markets both domestically and internationally. With her sales and marketing background, Steinberg will be instrumental in integrating the company’s marketing and sales efforts. She can be reached at [email protected].

Jennifer Dwiggins is the new director of customer support. In this new role, Dwiggins’ primary function will be the management and overall improvement of customer relations and satisfaction. She previously held positions as VP of operations at Redflex Traffic Systems and director of account management at Verizon. She can be reached at [email protected].

Nordic Hot Tubs Taps New Hires

Nordic Hot Tubs has hired a host of new staffers. The first two include Tony Cramer and Jason Rekar.

Cramer, formerly of Emerald Great Lakes, has joined the Nordic Team as the engineering manager. He brings 11 years of experience in the spa industry. In his new role, Cramer will be support both new product development and production needs.

Rekar, also joining the company from Emerald Great Lakes, will serve as Nordic's regional sales manager. He brings more than 20 years of experience in both retail and manufacturing sales.