Appleton Group, a division of Emerson Industrial Automation, announced that Mike Winter, National Sales Manager of Commercial Products for its EasyHeat® brand, has been appointed the 2014 Chairman of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) Manufacturers Council. He was the Manufacturers Council’s Chairman Elect in 2013, as well as past Chairman of the Manufacturers Group of the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association, a position he held for seven years. Winter will serve one year as Council Chairman and remain for another year as past Chair.

As Chairman, Winter will preside over a 12-person group that acts on behalf of associate NAED manufacturers, assuring effective communications between suppliers, electrical distributors and the NAED. The Manufacturers Council strives to maintain a diverse representation of the electrical industry with members drawn from a variety of technologies, regions, backgrounds and markets. In addition to Emerson, other representative companies include IDEAL, Siemens, Leviton, OSRAM SYLVANIA and HellermannTyton, among others.

“It is an honor to be selected as Chairman of the NAED Manufacturers Council,” said Winter. “My goal is to maintain the impressive momentum the council has created as a team over the past year such as the well-received New Product Forum we held at the NAED National Meeting.”

Winter has been with Emerson for 13 years, and has been in industrial sales for 25 years.