People to watch

Dante Capriotti has joined Daikin America as senior Technical Sales representative for Fluoroelastomers. The company, based in Orangeburg, NY, is a supplier of fluoropolymers to a range of industrial markets.

Michael Conway has joined Raabe Corp. as Sales manager, with responsibility for managing the company's custom-fill and color-match sales. Conway was formerly director of Sales and Marketing for American Finishing Resources, Chilton, WI.

Bayer Polymers L.L.C. has named Don Hummel to head the business's Polymer Solutions Marketing Division. He succeeds Peter Vanacker, who was recently named head of Bayer Polymers' Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Hummel was succeeded by Jay Shock, former head of global supply chain management for Bayer Polymers' NAFTA Group.

William H. Joyce, who recently resigned as CEO of Hercules Inc., was named chairman and CEO of Nalco Co., a supplier of water-treatment and process chemicals. Before joining Hercules in 1991, Joyce was chairman and CEO of Union Carbide Corp.

Tikkurila Coatings Oy has named Ulf Koivula president, effective Jan. 1. Koivula has held a series of management positions with the Tikkurila Group in Italy, the U.K., Singapore and the Baltic countries, and previously worked for the Beckers Group and Sadolin (now Akzo Nobel Coatings).

Robert L. Lawwill has joined Boehle Chemicals Inc. as a Technical Sales representative, with responsibility for sales in southern Ohio, southern Indiana and Kentucky.

Halox has named Beth Lidster Sales manager, with responsibility for management of distributors, key and target accounts, and customer relations in the Midwest and Southeast. Lidster has held Marketing positions with Halox for the past 11 years.

Tim McCarty has joined Fitz Chem Corp. as sales representative for a territory that includes eastern Indiana, eastern Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and southwestern New York.

Jon Pollina has joined Jamestown Powder Coatings as Northeast Ohio Regional Sales manager. Pollina will initially focus on the Cleveland area and will be based at Jamestown's corporate offices in Jamestown, PA.

Brian Schneider has joined The Flood Co. as International Sales manager, with responsibility for the International Division's sales, marketing and business-development programs in Latin America and Asia. He also will work closely with the company's domestic sales and marketing group to support a Canadian joint venture, Flood Paint Specialty Co., and will be involved in the areas of technical support, marketing, market research and the development of new sales programs. The Flood Co. also announced that Serge Lavoie has joined the company as National Sales manager, Canada, for The Flood Paint Specialty Co. Ltd., Flood's Canadian division.

Rust-Oleum Industrial Brands has promoted John Simons to vice president of Marketing. Simons will direct product-development, advertising and marketing initiatives for the company's range of industrial and consumer brands, including the recently acquired zero-VOC products of Sierra Performance Coatings. Simons will also focus on establishing a visible presence for Rust-Oleum in new distribution channels.

BASF has named Bill Sparks business manager for the company's functional polymers business, with responsibility for the architectural-coatings market in North America. Sparks was formerly a business-development and key account manager for BASF's paper-chemicals business unit.