Insulectro Promotes Ken Parent, Jason Shuppert, Felix Martinez Into Key Roles

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nsulectro, the largest distributor of materials for use in the manufacture of printed circuit board and printed electronics, has announced major changes in its corporate structure, effective today.

Twenty-one year Insulectro veteran Ken Parent has been promoted to a newly created position of Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for both sales and operations announced Patrick Redfern, Insulectro President and CEO.

“Ken has proven his ability to lead by example, speak up for those who have challenges, encourage his teammates to be their best, and develop talent from within as well as recruit from outside. His vision inspires everyone as he drives incredible results with passion and enthusiasm,” Redfern commented. “He is widely known and respected throughout our industry and has contributed significantly to the strategic direction of the company.

“Ken is the first guy to get on a plane to meet a customer or supplier partner. Currently, he is crisscrossing the United States on a 30-day tour to our distribution centers meeting with customers as he goes. He knows how our industry works at every level, and he is tireless in his work to make it better,” Patrick Redfern stated.

Prior to his promotion, Parent has led both the sales and product management teams.

Redfern continued, “Our announcement today includes the upcoming retirement of Insulectro’s current Vice President of Operations Jeff Mason in February of 2022.  Jeff, a twelve-year teammate, helped bring our operational visions to life and provided insight and expertise to drive our companies forward.  He has demonstrated his drive for continuous improvement and his passion for people consistently during his time here and will be missed.”

Succeeding Mason as Vice President of Operations is Jason Shuppert, current Head of Supply Chain. Since joining the Insulectro team three years ago, Shuppert has demonstrated continual success building a Supply Chain department focused on mitigating the negative impact of disruptions in supply and demand.

Shuppert’s extensive background in Supply Chain Planning includes Operations planning, Forecasting, Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Inventory Management, and other facets of the supply chain.  He has held senior leadership positions with several large companies including ARYZTA, LLC.  Ventura Foods, Land O’Lakes, IPS, and Kimberly Clark before coming Insulectro. 

“Jason has built a strong team that has really benefited our customers. We both share the same vision for what ‘world-class manufacturing,’ operations, and supply chain should look like for our companies,” Redfern stated. “He has the pulse on what’s happening with product availability, and understands our customers’ need to receive materials as rapidly as possible. In his new role, Jason will be able to further impact our service model. Shuppert will report to Ken Parent.”

Assisting Shuppert, Felix Martinez has been promoted to National Director of Operations overseeing Insulectro’s operations in all our branches. Martinez has demonstrated strong leadership in the Lake Forest distribution centers as well as coordinating several transitions for recent acquisitions.

Redfern concluded, “Today’s announcements, all internal promotions, are another step forward for Insulectro, in enabling our customers to build better boards, faster. With such a great team, the future seems unlimited.”

Insulectro supplies advanced engineered materials manufactured by Isola, DuPont®, LCOA®, CAC, Inc., Pacothane, Focus Tech, JX Nippon, TADCO, EMD Performance Materials (Ormet®), Shikoku, Denkai America, Industrial Brush Corporation, Kemmer, InduBond®, and Shur-loc. These products are used by its customers to fabricate complex, multilayer circuit boards and to manufacture printed electronics components. Insulectro serves a broad customer base manufacturing rigid, rigid/flex and flexible circuit boards for applications in a variety of end markets including aeronautics, telecom, data communications, high speed computing, mobile devices, military, and medical. Insulectro combines its premier product offering with local inventory across North America, fabrication capabilities and backed up by expert customer and technical support services.