Madison, Connecticut, USA – January 2, 2026 – The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc. announces the appointment of David M. Fisher as the 73rd president of the association for a one-year term that commenced on January 1, 2026. Fisher will chair the Board of Directors of the 96-year-old association, which is headquartered in Madison, Connecticut, USA.
Fisher, a second-generation business owner, is president and CEO of the James Monroe Wire and Cable Corporation (JMWC), Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA, a position he has held since 2005. He has 37 years’ experience in the wire and cable manufacturing industry.
During his early years he worked with his father in the JMWC plant learning the business from the ground up. After studies at The University of Massachusetts Lowell he officially joined the family business in a full-time capacity in 1989, moving from the plant to the office where he gained experience in various roles including sales, purchasing, process engineering, and administrative functions.
An active WAI member since 2008, Fisher joined the Board of Directors in 2018 and the Executive Committee in 2023. He served as the co-chair of WAI’s 2025 Conference Programming Committee; Executive Committee liaison to its Oversight Committee; and a was a former chair of the association’s Finance Committee. He is currently serving his 3rd term on the New England Chapter Board of Directors, for which he was president in 2016. He has been a frequent and generous sponsor of numerous WAI events and chapter functions.
Commenting on this new appointment, Fisher said, “I am excited to be leading the WAI as its next president and look forward to the future. I appreciate this opportunity to work with the Executive Committee and the full slate of board members in 2026. The energy and new horizons we forge together will bring the association to the next level as its members deserve.”
The Wire Association International, Inc. is governed by a network of volunteers from around the globe. Joining Fisher for the 2026 term are members of the association’s 2026 Executive Committee: First Vice President Raúl García Martínez, Viakable; Second Vice President Keith Albers, Fort Wayne Metals Research; Immediate Past President Eric P. Bieberich, Fort Wayne Wire Die; and Executive Committee Member Drew Richards, RichardsApex Inc.
The James Monroe Corporation, established in 1977 by Martin Fisher, is a privately held company involved in the manufacture of insulated wire products for most major commercial, industrial, energy, specialty communications, and military markets that are reached primarily through OEM and distribution. The products manufactured at the 100,000Ft² plant in Lancaster, Massachusetts, include a wide variety of common and custom wire and cable products that meet and exceed industry standards such as UL, CSA, IEEE, NEC, NEMA, ICEA and others.
WAI, founded in 1930, is a not-for-profit association with 1600 individual members in 45 countries and Wire Journal International subscribers in 76 countries. The association serves the educational needs of the wire and cable manufacturing industry through a variety of products and services. WAI manages the Interwire Conference & Trade Exhibition and Wire Expo; it publishes the Wire Journal International and the Wire Journal International Reference Guide.
Media Contacts: Janice E. Swindells, Director Marketing & Corporate Communications, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-2777, x. 117; Steven J. Fetteroll, Executive Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-1777.

Ganesh Ramaswamy has been named the next president and CEO of Southwire, succeeding longtime President and CEO Rich Stinson as part of a planned leadership transition. He has more than 25 years of global leadership experience across industrial, energy, building technologies, and healthcare sectors. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of industrial & energy technology at Baker Hughes and sits on the board of PACCAR Inc. as an independent director. His prior roles include senior leadership positions at Johnson Controls, Danaher (including Videojet and Beckman Coulter Diagnostics), Hoya’s Pentax Medical, and GE Healthcare.​ He holds engineering degrees from the University of Kerala and Auburn University, a PhD in mechanical engineering & applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He was described as having a record of driving growth, transformation and innovation that positions him well to guide the company from where his predecessor left it. During his 10 years leading Southwire, Stinson guided the company through significant organic growth and strategic acquisitions as well as expanding the company’s scope into a broader electrical solutions provider. Under his leadership, Southwire strengthened its financial position, advanced an ambitious sustainability agenda toward carbon neutrality and earned multiple recognitions for its culture, innovation and leadership in electrification. Based in Carrollton, Georgia, Southwire is one of North America’s largest wire and cable manufacturers.

​Following a restructuring that included a small number of voluntary redundancies, Rautomead reported its leadership team now consists of the following six people. Stephen Hall is the managing director. He joined the company in 2024 after working for FLEXcon for 17 years. Lee Macnamara leads sales and marketing. She previously worked for FLEXcon for 21 years. Ryan Nish is operations manager. He joined the company in 2025. He previously worked in engineering positions for Rubberatkins for 11 years. Lorraine Macdonald heads finance. She joined the company in 2025. Mervyn Cooper is the innovations manager. He previously was a project engineer for Rautomead from 1984 to 1991, and rejoined in 2025. Jan Barclay now oversees strategic operations as chief of staff. She joined the company in 1983 as an executive personal assistant. Based in Dundee, Angus, Scotland, Rautomead manufactures continuous-casting equipment for processing nonferrous metals and alloys.

Justin Quinn has been promoted to product line manager for premise cables at AFL. He joined the company as a product development engineer in 2012, and held positions that included process engineering manager and cable development manager. Prior to that he worked for seven years for Prysmian, where he was a senior engineer. He holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University. Based in Duncan, South Carolina, and a subsidiary of Japan’s Fujikura, Ltd., AFL specializes in fiber optic and related cable products for communications and energy networks.

Ryan Snyder has been promoted to vice president of manufacturing for Tri Star Metals. He joined the company 13 years ago and has more than 30 years of wire drawing and manufacturing leadership experience. Russ Davis has been promoted to vice president of plant maintenance and engineering. He began his career in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Submarine Program and over the past 11 years was described as having delivered exceptional results. Based in Aurora, Illinois, with its main manufacturing campus in Freeport, Illinois, Tri Star Metals is a domestic manufacturer and stocking distributor of stainless steel, nickel alloy, and aluminum wire and bar.

Premix Group USA announced that Matt James is its new director of sales, tasked with expanding the company’s compounds presence in the U.S., where it recently opened its first U.S. compounds plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has decades of leadership and expertise in the plastics industry. He previously served in a sales leadership role at Techmer PM. His background includes a wide range of sales, engineering, and managerial positions across the plastics sector. Based in Finland, Premix Group USA supplies electrically conductive and semiconductive polymer compounds.

Schlatter North America has promoted Mark Hall to general manager. He joined the company in 2021 and had been serving as North American sales manager. He has 36 years of experience in manufacturing/engineering that include Automated Industrial Machinery Inc. (AIM Inc.) from 2015 to 2019. He studied business management, marketing and related subjects at DeVry Institute of Technology. Based in Rockford, Illinois, and part of Germany’s Schlatter Group, Schlatter North America supplies wire processing lines, cold rolling lines, multidraft drawing lines, stretching and respooling lines, and wire welding equipment.

REELEX Packaging Solutions recently promoted Billy Head to a sales manager position. He joined the company in 2017 and worked as an electrical assembler and a field service technician. During that period he left for about a year for another position then returned. The U.S. Marine Corps. veteran was promoted last year to a sales manager position that is officially called international sales & business development. See p. 20 for more on his story. Based in Patterson, New York, REELEX Packaging Solutions provides a range of packaging equipment to the wire and cable industry.

Jessica Stamer has joined Amphenol Network Solutions as strategic account sales manager - hyperscale. She has about 15 years of industry experience, previously working for Google Fiber, AT&T, Tillson, Stewart and UC Syntergetic. She holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University. Part of Amphenol Corporation and based in Liberty Lake, Washington, Amphenol Network Solutions provides solutions for telecom, broadband and data center networks.

Obituary
James John Joseph Jr., of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, a widely respected authority in the field of industrial liquid filtration (primarily metalworking coolants) who was better known as Jim, died Oct. 21, 2025, at age 90.
The WAI Life Member launched Joseph Marketing in 1986, offering consulting services to major metalworking and automotive manufacturers. As an inventor, he developed advanced cross-flow filtration systems and invented the Cross Flow Filter that extends the life and improves efficiency in industrial applications. His focus included nonwoven roll media, cross-flow and semiconductive filtration concepts and coolant maintenance. Joseph was a speaker at WAI industry events. He also spoke widely in the tribology and metalworking fluids world, contributing articles to International Filtration News and other trade publications. He authored Coolant/Metalworking Fluids Filtration, which reached its third edition in 2024. It was still being reviewed and cited in tribology and lubrication journals in 2024–2025, underscoring his continued relevance late in life. He continued to work in 2025, and remained in contact with WAI staff.
Joseph was predeceased by his wife, Marjorie Castle Joseph. Survivors include: two children, Lynn Joseph and Jim Joseph, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

As the depth and range of WAI’s educational program, has expanded, so has the importance of the Education Committee. Below are the members who will help guide the Association in 2026.

The committee is chaired by Matt Miles, Southwire Co. Other members include: Erik Perks (Vice Chair), Prysmian; Brad Andrews, Condat Co.; Donald M. Dodge, Calmont Wire & Cable; Joseph P Domblesky, Marquette University; Jason Giebfried, Paramount Die Co.; Tracy Gooding, Mar-Mac Wire Inc.; C.  Richard Gordon, C. Richard Gordon Consulting; Erik A. Macs, Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp; Isaac Muller, American Wire Group; Donald Neville, RichardsApex Europe Ltd.;  Brian Parsons, Interstate Wire Co. Inc.; Svet Pavlovsky, Blachford Corp.; Horace Pops, Horace Pops Consulting;  Christopher Reeve, Insteel Wire Products; Matthew Reinoehl, SDI La Farga COPPERWORKS; Eric Wagner, Charter Steel; and Bhaskar Yalamanchili, Gerdau Long Steel North America.

The executive committee liaison is Raúl Garcia Martínez, Viakable SA de CV.