Personnel News: Staff Announcements from Around the Industry

DIG CORP HIRES MERLESENA TO SALES STAFF. DIG Corp. announced the hiring of Mike Merlesena as a commercial sales representative. He will travel throughout the Southern California area meeting with distributors, architects and landscape contractors.

Merlesena brings an extensive background in irrigation with him to his new position. His experience includes more than 12 years in the industry working with WaterWorks Irrigation in Osterville, Mass., and Global Irrigation in Backersfield, Calif. Melesena will draw upon this experience as he works to provide practical solutions for his customer’s needs.

UNITED RENTALS ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT APPOINTMENTS. United Rentals has announced the appointments of James Milde as senior vice president and chief information officer, and Todd Helvie as vice president - tax and business development for the company. Both positions are effective immediately.

Milde will be responsible for the strategic leadership and oversight of the company's corporate and branch information technology operations. He has more than 20 years of senior management experience leading technology organizations and business operations. He has accomplished complex global initiatives, most recently at Sony Electronics as senior general manager, chief information officer; and at the Pepsi Bottling Group as senior vice president, chief information officer. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from Clarkson University Milde serves on the board of directors of Knight Capital, the board of trustees of Clarkson University, and several venture capital advisory boards.

Helvie will be responsible for United Rentals’ corporate taxation and strategic acquisitions and divestitures. He has more than 13 years of senior management and legal experience, including directing treasury, risk, tax and acquisition functions for domestic and international corporations. He most recently served as senior vice president and treasurer for Delta Air Lines. Prior to that he was director of taxation for Pepsi-Cola Co., a division of PepsiCo. Previously, he was a tax attorney with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Helvie received a Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering from Grove City College.

CLEARY ADDS CHAVARRIA AS SALES REP. Cleary Chemical Corp. has named Joe Chavarria technical sales representative for the company, serving both turf and ornamental customers in the Pacific Northwest.

“Joe comes to Cleary with over 20 years of industry experience in both the turf and ornamental markets and will be a great addition to our sales efforts in that region,” says Mary Ellen (Cleary) Warwick, president of Cleary Chemcial Corp. Most recently, Chavarria was a distributor sales representative with Simplot Partners serving both the golf course and ornamental markets. 

“I’ve been aware of Cleary for some time now and have watched its rapid growth in the region over the last few years,” says Chavarria. “Working with Cleary will be a real opportunity.”