Monthly Archives: December 2015
Scott Willis Named New Zinwave CEO, Ian Sugarbroad to Retire
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Scott D. Willis as the new Chief Executive Officer of Zinwave, effective January 4, 2016. Ian Sugarbroad will step down from his current role on January 4, but will work closely with Scott on a full-time basis for several months to facilitate the transition of his responsibilities. During this period he will move to the role of Vice-Chairman of Zinwave and will remain a member of the Zinwave executive team. Once the transition is complete, Ian will report to Key Foster in a special advisory role where he will provide input on a wide range of strategic, technical, and operational matters that relate both to Zinwave and to McWane Technology Group. This role will enable Ian to take his first step toward his long-term plan to retire to Florida with his wife, Dominique.
Scott joins us from Goodman Networks, where he was Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. He brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and relationships developed over his 30-year career in the telecommunications industry. Scott previously worked for Ericsson, Nokia, BellSouth, Sprint, and several smaller global corporations in the communications field.
Scott has led a number of large global businesses over the course of his extensive career. He is recognized as a strong sales and marketing executive with a proven track record in market-leading sales growth. He has extensive general management experience setting strategic direction, confecting corporate alliances, and overseeing complex operations for both large and small organizations. He also has built and grown new businesses to significant scale. We are confident that Scott’s leadership capabilities and experience in our target market segments (operator, neutral host, and enterprise) will help Zinwave seize the significant growth opportunities that are within our grasp.
Scott graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in finance, received his MBA from Wake Forest University, and received continuing executive education certificates from the graduate schools of business at Stanford and Columbia. Scott will be based in Dallas, TX, where he lives with his wife (Kelley), daughter (Savannah), and son (Chance).
We are excited for Scott to join the Zinwave and the McWane family of companies. We are confident he will lead the organization to achieve the ambitious goals that we have outlined for the business.
Please join us in welcoming Scott to the team.
Phillip McWane and Ruffner Page visit MSPL Team in Coimbatore, India
On a recent trip to India, McWane Chairman Phillip McWane and Chief Executive Officer Ruffner Page had the opportunity to see firsthand the McWane Services Private Ltd. (MSPL) operations that support McWane companies worldwide. They were impressed by the quality and support provided by each of the teams and the collaborative effort between MSPL and the McWane divisions in the U.S. They toured the Design, Product Development, IT/Help Desk, and Sales Support Services operations and discussed the various services with MSPL team members. There is potential for future expansion of these services to other McWane divisions that are not currently using these services.
The tech team currently supports Synapse, Zinwave, and Nighthawk and the goal is to expand these services to the Indian market. This is an example of how McWane teams 10,000 miles apart can work together to pool their strengths and develop products for both the U.S. and Indian markets. The tech team demonstrated the use of the iron mesh and the Multihawk for Phillip and Ruffner as well as the proposed plans for introducing these products to the Indian market. Phillip and Ruffner were pleased to learn that MSPL plans to open a remote office in Bangalore, India. Additional labs that will work on remote metering solutions, condition monitoring, and water solutions are also planned for the future.
Phillip and Ruffner also toured the valve plant and the valve testing and tooling facilities. The valve plant was set up in a record 6 months and is already supplying valves not only to South America and McWane Gulf, but has also entered the Indian market as well. The valves have been well received in the Indian market and we should see an uptick in sales in India in 2016 of the resilient gate, air release, check, and butterfly valves. In 2016, MSPL plans to expand the sizes offered and introduce and sell the metal seated and knife valves as well.
The two-day visit to Coimbatore ended with a dinner hosted by the MSPL team in honor of the visiting senior executives from the U.S.
McWane, Inc. 