Retail Observer

JANUARY 2017 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 93 kitchen and bath companies, Kiva Kitchen & Bath and Westheimer Plumbing & Hardware. MARK A. GRITTON NAMED PRESIDENT OF SSW HOLDING COMPANY, INC. SSW Holding Company, Inc. (SSW) is pleased to announce the promotion of Mark A. Gritton to the position of president, SSW Holding Company, Inc., as current president and CEO Paul M. Kara transitions to chairman and CEO of SSW. To begin his new role as president, Gritton assumes overall responsibility for the company's expanding Mexican operations, leading a transformational quality initiative company-wide and continuing with overall responsibility for sales, marketing and product development throughout North America. Gritton, a 22-year company veteran, is leaving his post as senior vice-president of sales, marketing and product development where he has helped guide its strategic growth and successful expansion into several markets including commercial refrigeration, residential cooking, residential laundry and HVAC. In addition, he has led the company's diversification into ground-breaking product lines including Spill Smart ™ Hydrophobic Shelving. Prior to his joining SSW, Gritton held positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing management for 15 years with Crucible Materials Corporation, Cooper Industries, Federal-Mogul Corporation and General Electric Appliances. Stepping up to fill Gritton's previous post will be Tom Sommers as executive vice-president of sales and Matt McMillin as executive director – innovation and product strategy. Both Sommers and McMillin are seasoned SSW employees with nearly 50 years of combined company service. "Mark brings a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to the task of leading our company and we are delighted to welcome him into his new role," said Kara. "We will rely greatly on his leadership to further the success of SSW while establishing a clear path to succession for many years to come." "I look forward to the great honor of serving as president of SSW," Gritton said. "I am certain we are well positioned for the future and we will continue to build on SSW's legacy of excellence." KEVIN BROWN NAMED PRESIDENT OF VIKING RANGE Kevin Brown has been named president of Viking Range, a Middleby Corporation company, based in Greenwood, Miss. Mr. Brown will be responsible for the overall operations, sales and engineering initiatives at Viking Range. "Kevin has been an effective and respected leader with Viking customers, employees and vendors over the past several years, and he has proven time and time again that he can deliver results," said Selim A. Bassoul, Chairman and CEO of The Middleby Corporation. Under Kevin's direction, an entirely redesigned line of Viking product for all appliances was manufactured under new, rigorous quality-testing processes. This redesign of every product in a short period of time resulted in significant improvements in reliability and performance across all Viking product categories. "I am proud to lead Viking into a new era with our redesigned and award-winning residential technologies," said Mr. Brown. "Viking is a well-known, established brand and we now have everything in place to move forward and grow with our new product offerings and by expanding our domestic and global reach." Kevin brings more than 25 years of domestic and global appliance experience to his new position. Since joining Viking Range in 2007, Mr. Brown has held several senior engineering positions within the company. Most recently he was Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Before joining Viking Range, Kevin held management positions at Whirlpool and Maytag. For more information about The Middleby Corporation visit www.middleby.com. For additional information on Viking please visit www.vikingrange.com. RO K E V I N B R O W N M A R K G R I T T O N

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