R. Craig Breese has joined Rheem Manufacturing Co. as president of its Water Heating Division in Montgomery, AL. He succeeds Simon Parfitt, who has been promoted to vice president - finance, corporate, reporting directly to Ian Stewart Farwell, president/CEO, and based in Atlanta.

Breese

The Water Heating Division, which produces tanktype and tankless units for residential and commercial applications, maintains manufacturing operations in Montgomery as well as in Nuevo Laredo and Mexicali, Mexico. All three plants are ISO 9000-certified. The division also has one location in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and currently employs about 3,400 people in all three countries.

Parfitt

Breese has more than 30 years of experience with various industrial companies in the United States. He had been serving as president of Maytag International in Chicago since 2001. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with the Viskase Corp. as CEO, Viskase Europe, and later as senior vice president of Viskase Corp. During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked in managerial positions for United Technologies Corp., Tenneco and Deere & Co.

Parfitt joined Rheem in 1996, serving nearly 10 years as vice president and controller of the Water Heating Division before becoming division president last November.