Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company said Thursday that Russell L. Shade, a Massachusetts native, who was most recently general manager of the GE Power Systems Navy & Small Steam Turbine Department in Fitchburg, Mass., has been picked as vice president of GE Drive Systems. The unit has its headquarters in Salem.
Shade replaces Thomas R. Brock Jr., who has left GE to form his own consulting business. Brock, who recently was elected chairman of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, will remain in the Roanoke area, according to John Stroud, chamber president.
Brock was out of town and not available for comment.
Shade holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and five U.S. patents in heat transfer technology.
During Shade's 22 years with GE, he has been involved in design engineering and manufacturing in the steam turbine area and has held general management positions in military and industrial product plants.
GE Drive Systems unit produces industrial drive systems and turbine control products. GE Drive Systems was formerly part of GE Power Generation based in Schenectady, N.Y., but was shifted last year to GE Motors & Industrial Systems, based in Fort Wayne, Ind.
GE's Salem unit, which employs 2,100 people at two plants, is a worldwide supplier of drives, controls and automation systems for a wide variety of industrial and utility uses. General Electric, based in Fairfield, Conn., reported 1994 earnings of $4.73 billion on revenues of $60.11 billion.
Brock, 49, became Drive Systems general manager in March 1990. He was widely considered a popular leader who brought team management concepts to the plant and helped stem a series of annual layoffs that had preceded his tenure.
"People will go off the cliff for this guy," Roger Farley, a former plant spokesman, once said of Brock.
Brock joined GE in 1968 at Salem and has spent all but seven years of his GE career there. He returned to Salem in 1989 as general manager of technology and production.
Gerald Meadows, president of Local 161 of the International Union of Electronic Workers, said rumors had circulated after GE Drive Systems was re-aligned with GE Motors & Industrial Systems that indicated Brock might be leaving.
The company announced Brock's departure in a memorandum that was distributed to each employee, Meadows said.
Meadows said the union won't have any problem working with Shade as long as union jobs remain safe and secure. Meadows said he has heard that Shade's style is to work with unions.
Shade, 45, and his wife, Debra, have a son, 12, and daughter, 9.
by CNB