Colder Products Opens New Office in Japan

Colder Products Company (www.colder.com), a provider of quick disconnect couplings, announced a reorganization of its sales force and the opening of a new office in Kanagawa, Japan. According to Colder, the effort is part of a move to better service the company”s evolving global customer base. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., Colder also has international offices in Mainz-Kastel, Germany and Hong Kong, China.

The changes to the sales force include the following:

Richard Mills has been promoted to vice president of worldwide sales and will assume responsibility for the company’s expanded sales force.
Mitsuharu Suzuki has been named sales manager for Japan and will oversee all sales and marketing activity in the Japanese market.
Ernest Chan has been appointed regional sales manager for the Asia-Pacific region. Franz Stankiewicz has been promoted to director of sales for Europe.

Richard Mills was most recently Colder’s vice president in charge of sales for the company”s North America interests. In his new role, he will also have responsibility for sales activities in Europe and Asia. Mills holds a BSEE in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University and an MSEE from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is based at Colder’s headquarters in St. Paul.

The new sales manager for Japan, Mitsuharu Suzuki, was most recently the manager of disposable product development for Nichiryo Co., Ltd. His experience includes positions with various medical device and biotech companies, including Nihon Pall Limited, Gelman Sciences Japan, Corning International, and A.R. Brown. Suzuki works in Colder”s new Japan office, which officially opened on May 1, 2006.

Ernest Chan, Colder’s new regional sales manager for the Asia Pacific region, previously was Far East area manager at Brookfield Engineering Laboratories, Inc. Chan earned his bachelor”s degree in computer science from the University of Iowa and has a bachelor”s degree in biology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Chan’s other work experience includes positions with Cole Parmer, SpaceLabs, Inc. and Beckman Instruments (HK) Ltd. Chan is based at Colder Products Company Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Franz Stankiewicz, in his new role, is now responsible for driving all of Colder’s sales activities in European markets. Stankiewicz is based at Colder Products Company GmbH in Mainz-Kastel, Germany.