On Sept. 30, Donald E. Morris, president and CEO of Morris Group International announced the following changes:

Tom Duddy, president of Elmco/Duddy and president for the past three years of Acorn Engineering Co., will step down from his Acorn duties to concentrate on Elmco/Duddy.

As a result, Morris will remain CEO of both Acorn and Jay R. Smith Manufacturing Co., and has made some promotion and transitions that should in the long-term allow Barrett Morris to become president of Acorn (a company founded by his grandfather) and Ed Ismert to become president of Jay R. Smith.

In the meantime, Barrett has been promoted senior vice president-general manager of Acorn. He will report to Keith Marshall, executive vice president of Acorn.

Ismert has been promoted to vice president, sales of MGI, reporting directly to Donald Morris. Steve Chromey will continue to guide Jay R. Smith as executive vice president, reporting directly to Donald Morris.

Ismert will also take over additional responsibility for Acorn Outside Sales. Stephanie Miner will assist Ismert as national sales manger, and she will be assisted in her expanded Acorn role with the addition of Matt Pardue, a former Acorn rep who has taken the position of eastern regional manager.

Eric Pilas, currently regional manager for Jay R. Smith, will take over as national sales manager for Jay R. Smith, reporting directly to Ismert.

In addition, Whitehall and Neo-Metro are under the direction of Kristin Kahle, vice president and general manager.

New to the team is Jim DelRe, national sales manager for the trench drain division, part of Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co. DelRe will collaborate with Mario Stan, vice president of business development and his trench drain team. DelRe is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the trench drain business.

Joe Penza, vice president of controls and safety, will go to a part-time role (three days a week) starting January 2017. Jim Graves will assume a dual role in continuing to head up the company’s Chicago R&D facility and as vice president and general manager of Acorn Controls and Safety.

Bob Murdock, Murdock-Super Secur (the group’s oldest division at 163 years), continues as president of M-SS and Murdock Mfg. This year, the group combined the indoor/outdoor fountains, coolers, bottle fillers, etc. under Murdock Mfg. (formerly Aqua). Murdock also heads up Acorn U and remains a vice president of MGI.

Laura Marshall, vice president and general manager of AcornVac, will direct Craig Johnson, national sales manager, in the strategic accounts business. Marshall, Johnson and Ron Mims, along with a team of seasoned veterans at AcornVac, will also continue to focus on opening new business for vacuum plumbing systems with the company’s reps.

Cyd Brookshire has been promoted to vice president and general manager of Fire Pro. Brookshire will report directly to Donald Morris, but will cooperate heavily with Potter Roemer’s seasoned team of vice presidents – George Brown, Jim Widmer, Ed Evans and Randall Morris.