Palmer Holland, a leading independent North American specialty chemical and fine ingredient distributor, announced an expansion in roles and personnel to its commercial teams.

In May, Palmer Holland established the Industrial Specialties and Consumer & Life Sciences segments increasing market focus to support the different needs of these two strong sources of growth and transformation. These additional organizational changes, specific to the Industrial Specialties segment, demonstrate Palmer Holland’s commitment to continued investment and growth in its industrial business and to retaining and promoting top talent in the distribution industry.

Effective July 1, 2023, Eric Kielts will be retiring from his position as Business Director of Lubricants. Kielts joined Palmer Holland in 2017 after an extensive career in the industrial lubricant and metalworking manufacturing industry. His technical knowledge, drive, and commitment to Palmer Holland have been instrumental to the growth of the Lubricant vertical. Kielts will remain at Palmer Holland, supporting the Lubricant Team in a limited capacity.

With an unwavering commitment to creating sustainable and profitable growth for our principals, customers, and employee-owners, Palmer Holland is pleased to announce it has appointed John Battaglia as Business Director of Lubricants, Tony Denton as Senior Business Director of Plastics, John Outcalt as Business Director of CASE, and Dave Ruggieri as Principal Management Director of CASE.

John Battaglia will succeed Kielts as Business Director of Lubricants. Battaglia has been core to the success of the business since joining Palmer Holland in 2012. Having proven leadership in the company’s sales and principal management sides while consistently providing mentoring and coaching for cross-functional teammates throughout the organization, he will partner and learn alongside the current Lubricants management team to continue driving growth in this business.

Tony Denton, a pivotal player on the Industrial Specialties leadership team, has been promoted to Senior Business Director of Plastics. He joined Palmer Holland in 2009 as an Account Manager in the legacy Central Region before accepting an Enterprise Account Manager role in 2013 to help pioneer what is now the CASE Team’s Key Account Program. In 2018, Denton transitioned to his current role as the Plastics Team’s Business Director, amounting to almost three decades of proven business development and growth. The organization looks forward to continuing to have his expertise and executive leadership as an integral part of Palmer Holland’s extended leadership team.  

John Outcalt has been promoted to Business Director for Palmer Holland’s CASE Team to fill the role vacated by recently promoted Ron Zmich, SVP of Industrial Specialties. Outcalt started his career in the coatings industry at Sherwin-Williams before joining Palmer Holland in 2011 as an Account Manager in the then newly-formed Southeast Region. Building upon his foundation in sales, he moved into business management before transitioning to commercial leadership, where he’s spent over seven years managing teams in both sales and business management for the CASE Team in addition to serving on the Board of Directors in support of Palmer Holland’s ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) structure. Outcalt’s intimate knowledge of the CASE market puts him in a position to continue providing the excellent leadership skills and sales acumen that have defined his career at Palmer Holland.

Dave Ruggieri has been promoted to Principal Management Director for CASE, in which he will be responsible for the principal side of the CASE business. With nearly 30 years of chemical industry and business development experience, Ruggieri has been an invaluable part of the Palmer Holland organization. He served as the Central Regional Sales Manager for nine years before transitioning to his most recent role as Business Manager for CASE in 2019. Ruggieri will assume a formal leadership role with the Business Management Team 

“The recent leadership promotions in our organization represent our ongoing commitment to recognizing and developing top talent within the specialty chemical industry,” said Ron Zmich, Senior Vice President of Industrial Specialties. “Each employee-owner has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, industry knowledge, and dedication to growing Palmer Holland’s and our principal partners’ reach, and we’re lucky to have them.”

For more information, please email info@palmerholland.com or visit the Palmer Holland website at www.palmerholland.com.