The Valve Manufacturers Association (VMA) membership elected the 2021-2022 board of directors, following the announcement of the slate of candidates at its Annual Meeting, which took place in October. VMA’s chairman of the board for the 2021-2022 year is Ron Warren, president and chief operating officer of Bray International Inc., based out of Houston.

With over 45 years of international experience in the flow control industry, Warren has served in a senior executive position at Bray International Inc. for the last 10 years.

“Our job is to work together to grow the industry and, as VMA members, we must be more inclusive in growing our membership and be more effective in how we use our united industry voice. Bryan Burns of DeZURIK served during the challenging first part of the pandemic as chairman and Arie Bregman of DFT has done a great job during the remainder of the pandemic. Nathan Burnell of Baker Hughes worked closely with our VMA president and members of the strategic planning committee to write a detailed, three-year strategic plan. Because of the work of these members and our board of directors, I believe the organization is stronger, better organized and on the precipice of great growth going forward. Our responsibility for the coming should be to enact the new adopted strategic plan.”

Matt Theil, president, AUMA Actuators Inc., will serve as the 2021-2022 vice chairman of the board and treasurer. Other members of the executive committee include the following:

Nathan Brunell, product line general manager, Baker Hughes; Andy Duffy, vice president sales, Emerson/ASCO; and Arie Bregman, vice president and general manager of DFT Inc., who serves as immediate past chair.

In addition to the executive committee, the following VMA members are returning as board members:

• Alejandro (Alex) Alcala, senior vice president, Crane Co.
• Mark Claffey, president, Trillium Valves USA
• Andrew Duffy, vice president sales, ASCO
• Seth Guterman, CEO, American Valve
• David Loula, Director, global products and markets, ITT Engineered Valves
• Kevin McKown, general manager, Curtiss-Wright Nuclear
• Kevin J. Tinsley, SVP global operations, Neles
• Rob Velan, executive vice president, MRO  Aftermarket and vice chairman of the board, Velan Valve Corp.
• Kirk Wilson, president, Flowserve, Flow Control Division
• Brian Wright, president and CEO, A-T Controls

The board of directors also approved Danilo Garcia, president, RF Valves Inc., Hanover, Maryland, to the board, serving a three-year term. Danilo has 20+ years of management, sales, and engineering experience in the valve and Industrial markets, with a focus on Mining, Industrial, Municipal, Chemical, Power. Danilo became president of RF Valves in 2013, after serving in sales roles for three years. Prior to that, he was with General Electric-Dresser-Masoneilan; Synqor, Inc., and Maritech Inc.