WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- The Measurement, Control & Automation Association elected James P. Bolin, Jr. COO of Process Automation for Pepperl + Fuchs as its chairman for the next year. Charlotte Hill (President of Georg Fischer Signet LLC) passed a virtual gavel to the new chairman during the Association's annual business meeting held in an online webinar on November 18. Mr. Bolin joined Pepperl + Fuchs in Twinsburg, OH in 1997.
Prior to Pepperl + Fuchs, Bolin spent 18 years working for manufacturer's representatives in various capacities. He was promoted to Vice President in 2000 and to Chief Operating Officer in 2005. His current responsibilities include all of the Process Automation Division's activities in Northern South America, Latin America, the United States, Canada and Mexico. He is also a member of the Process Automation Division Corporate Executive Council. Bolin holds a degree in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Kent State University. In addition to his Board duties since 2006, Jim has led the association efforts to bring rationality to the Product
Also elected during the May meeting was Wally Stommes, president of StoneL in Fergus Falls, Minn.. Stommes will serve as vice chairman as well as treasurer of the association for the coming year. He is a co-founder of StoneL a business division of Metso Automation. StoneL manufactures conventional and intelligent valve monitoring products and process networking components sold through distribution channels and OEMS throughout North America and other areas of the world. He holds several patents, has authored numerous published articles on industry-related topics and is a member of Metso's technology planning group. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from North Dakota State University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Elected as directors-at-large were Marianne Gatten, director of strategic planning and business Development for Emerson Process Management Micro Motion located in Boulder, Co; Michael Kime, vice president of Wilson-Mohr Inc. in Plano, Texas; and Mick Schwartz, business unit manager of Berthold Technologies in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Each director serves a three-year term until December 2013.
Leaving the board at the completion of their service were Past Chairman David Wolfe, President of Acromag, Inc., Lance Fuhr, Americas Sales Support Leader for HoneywellEnraf and Brian LaBelle, Director of Marketing for GF Piping Systems.
