Executive Appointments:

Ali Group has promoted Filippo Berti to Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1. Berti will have responsibility for all of the Milan, Italy-based firm’s 77 brands and operating companies worldwide. He joined the Ali Group in May 2008 with the acquisition of Beverage-Air, where he held the role of president. He most recently served as CEO and chairman of Chicago-based Ali Group North America, and played a key role in its successful acquisitions of Beverage-Air, Edlund, Scotsman Industries and InterMetro Industries. Ali Group Founder Luciano Berti will continue in his role as Chairman and remain actively engaged with the company and its corporate staff.

ITW Group has appointed Axel Beck, Hobart General Manager and Vice President, as Group President Global Ware Wash. Beck will keep his offices in Offenburg, site of Hobart’s European headquarters. The European and Asian Hobart companies as well as the American and the Italian warewashing group will report directly to him there. Beck joined Hobart at its headquarters in 1989. He managed the British factory site of Hobart UK for five years before returning to Germany in 2002 as Business Unit Manager-Ware Wash Systems. In 2009, he was appointed Hobart General Manager and in 2011, Vice President-Europe & Asia.

Klaus Engesser was appointed earlier this year as new Head of Business Units Catering and Medical at Blanco Professional. The appointment signaled the German company’s increasing focus on sales and marketing activities in the national and international area. Engesser, a veteran of sales and marketing posts in a range of industries, most recently served at Meiko, manufacturer of commercial warewashing and disinfection technology. The Blanco Professional Group, headquartered in Oberderdingen, has subsidiaries in Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Austria and the Czech Republic. It also has sales offices in Switzerland, Spain, Russia, India, Korea and Singapore.