T&B Welcomes New Board Member

Rufus H. Rivers has joined T&B's Board of Directors, filling a vacancy left by the retirement of Ernest H. Drew. With the addition of Rivers, the company's Board has 10 members, including nine independent directors.

Rivers is a managing director of RLJ Equity Partners, LLC. Part of the RLJ Companies, RLJ Equity is a private investment firm focusing on middle-market companies in the media, consumer products and professional services sectors. The RLJ Companies, founded by Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, is a diverse portfolio of companies in the financial services, real estate, hospitality, professional sports, film production, automotive and gaming industries.

Prior to joining RLJ Equity, Rivers served as co-founder and managing director of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, L.P., a private debt and equity fund associated with The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest investment firms. He has also held executive positions with TCW/Crescent Mezzanine, LLC, Heller Financial, Inc. and the First National Bank of Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College and a Masters of Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

T&B People Are on the Move Around the World

Pilon Promoted to President, Canada
Nathalie Pilon has been promoted to the position of President of the Canada Division. Nathalie has served as Vice President - Finance since joining Thomas & Betts in 1996.

Vince Pesce has been appointed as Vice President - Finance of the Canada Division. Vince joined T&B in 2000 where he was involved in the business strategies and financial plans. In his new role, he will undertake all the financial functions and the strategic alignments in order to better meet the business needs of T&B's Canadian division.

EMEA Leadership Changes
Fabrice Van Belle has been promoted to President - EMEA/Asia. Fabrice began his career with T&B over 20 years ago in the privately held Reznor - Europe business which was acquired by Thomas & Betts in 1996. He moved to European headquarters in 1997 as a financial accountant and was promoted to Finance Director - Europe in 2000. Fabrice later assumed financial management responsibility for the Asia region as well as tax and treasury activities.

Also in Europe, Johan van Bruggen has been named Managing Director of Lighting while Mike Bodington has been promoted to Manager Director of Electrical and Grounding Products. In these roles, van Bruggen and Bodington will be responsible for strategy development and execution and the delivery of all performance objectives.

T&B's Masters Club Inducts New Members

From left: Ned Camuti, Dominic Pileggi, Chad Gray, Chris Hartmann, Teri Youngblood, Eleanor Marschke, Jim Feeney, Jay Joerg and Joe Davis.

T&B's "Masters Club" - which recognizes the best of the best in electrical product sales has inducted ten new members. Congratulations to Joe Davis (South Central Region), Chad Gray (Mid South Region), Jay Joerg and Peter Feruglio (National Accounts), Eleanor Marschke and Alan Amidon (South Atlantic Region), Teri Youngblood (Pacific Southwest Region), Tim Pierce (Mid-Atlantic Region), Doug Ropp (Midwest Region) and Robert Troise (Northeast Region).

"The new Master Club inductees exemplify what it takes to win every day, day after day, in highly competitive markets," said Jim Feeney, T&B vice president of sales for the U.S. electrical business. "These ten individuals are highly focused, have strong credibility and are known for their reliability, integrity, passion and dedication. We are extremely proud to have them on the T&B team."

The winners and their spouses were flown to Memphis, Tenn., for the award ceremony and associated leisure activities.

From left: Jim Feeney, Roger Troise, Ned Camuti, Dominic Pileggi, Tim Pierce, Alan Amidon, Peter Feruglio and Doug Ropp.

Neva McGruder Selected for Women of Excellence by Tri-State Defender

Neva McGruder, T&B Director of Human Resources Steel Structures Division, was honored in 2008 by the Tri-State Defender for inclusion in Women of Excellence. This tribute is given to 50 of the most enterprising and influential women from various professions and walks of life. The Tri-State Defender is one of the oldest continuously-published African- American papers in the United States.

The Women of Excellence honorees exemplify African- American female executives, business owners and community leaders with proven success in their profession and industry.

John Goldsberry Celebrates 40 Years with T&B

For over four decades, John Goldsberry, regional sales manager for Telecom Central Office Equipment Installation sales, has been part of T&B's growth. When Goldsberry started his career, annual sales were $55 million; today, T&B is well on its way to reaching $3 billion in global revenues.

Goldsberry has worked in telecom, data com, electrical, OEM, exports and central office products. Over 40 years, he has had a chance to work 49 out of 50 states. While based in northern California, his territory included Alaska and Hawaii. While based in New England, his territory included Puerto Rico and Jamaica. He also was one of the original "scouts" assigned to initiate the company's sales efforts for telecommunication products in China. Today, Goldsberry resides in Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.

John Goldsberry (front row, far right) joins his colleagues from the Communications Products team.

Growing "Lean" Leaders

Several years ago, Thomas & Betts began a "Lean" journey in many of the company's manufacturing facilities. Lean is a systems approach where each phase builds on the previous one. Employing Lean techniques has, over time, helped make T&B facilities safer, kept costs competitive and enhanced customer service.

When employees involved in the Lean journey were surveyed, they reported that they believed Lean had "made us a stronger company," "made our jobs easier" and that Lean had made "communication better." They also noted that "there was a need for on-going training for all employees" and that supervisors needed help in providing guidance and assistance on the factory floor.

T&B responded by creating a "new" position of Team Leaders in facilities using Lean techniques. While some facilities already had similar positions known as cell leaders, group leaders and department leads, creating "Team Leaders" standardized the responsibilities of these individuals, ensuring that the skill requirements, behavioral traits, roles and responsibilities would be consistent across T&B locations regardless of whether the facility was in Mexico, Canada, the U.S. or Europe.

In addition, standardized training programs were developed. No longer would supervisors have to learn by the old "sink-or-swim" method.

Team Leaders are required to participate in a minimum of 60 hours of training including classroom work and on-the-job training. Training specific to a facility was developed and delivered by the management or professional staffs at the facility.

Corporate Executive Changes

Imad Hajj has been named Senior Vice President of Global Operations. A seasoned operations executive, Hajj will now oversee the development and execution of T&B's global manufacturing, supply chain and distribution center.

Stan Locke has changed positions from Controller to Vice President - Business Development and Strategic Planning. Stan will lead the Company's strategic planning, merger and acquisition, and divestiture activities.

Bill Weaver has joined T&B as Vice President and Controller. Bill comes to the company from MetLife Home Loans where he was Vice President and CFO. He was previously with First Horizon Home Loans where he served as Senior EVP and CFO for the Mortgage Banking Division. Prior to First Horizon, Bill served as Managing Partner for KPMG LLP where he was responsible for the Thomas & Betts account.

Utility Products Business Enhances Management Team

Howard Broadfoot has joined T&B from the Newell-Rubbermaid Company as Vice President of Operations, Utilty Products. Broadfoot will use his extensive background in Six-Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System to help improve productivity.

A 35-year veteran of T&B's Elastimold^® products team, Al Borgstom has been named Vice President of R&D for utility products. In this role, Borgstom will oversee all development activities.

Tom MacDonald joined the Utility Products Group as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Previously, MacDonald held positions with MacLean Power Systems, Cooper Industries and Alflex Cororation.

Robert Booth, who was recently promoted to Director, International, and Tim Max, also recently promoted to Director, Marketing Services.

Electrical Powers Up Leadership

Viswas Purani has joined Thomas & Betts as Vice President and General Manager of the Power Solutions business located in Richmond, Va. Viswas will be responsible for developing strategy and growth initiatives with continued focus on the significant brand recognition of Cyberex^®, Current Technology^® and Joslyn^® products as well as the global service segment.

Purani joined T&B from the Eaton Corporation.

Dan Lee has joined the Electrical Division as Vice President - Finance. Dan previously worked for Accellent, Inc., where he served as Vice President - Advanced Manufacturing and Vice President - Finance. Earlier in his career, he worked for ten years at Square D/Schneider Electric in various financial roles.

Kendall Morgan has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing for the U.S. Electrical Division. Kendall's strong skill set and successful experience in finance, sales, marketing and direct involvement in operations and product development make him uniquely qualified for this role.

Michael Pratt has been named as Director of Engineering Services. Pratt has held a number of critical engineering, operations and management positions over his nearly 20-year career with T&B.

New Quality & Marketing Leadership for Steel Structures

Jim Palmer has joined T&B as Director of Marketing for the Steel Structures business. Jim previously worked at Hoffinger Industries, Inc.

Ed Jacobs has been promoted to the position of Director of Quality and Research & Development for Steel Structures. Jacobs has over 17 years of quality and project management experience.

Jim Clark Joins NFPA Board of Directors

Jim Clark, vice president in T&B's finance department, has been elected to the board of directors for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), an international nonprofit association dedicated to reducing the devastation of fire and other hazards by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training and education. NFPA's 300 codes and standards influence every building, process, service, design and installation in the U.S. as well as many other countries.