Harrisburg, PA–D&H Distributing, a major North American computer products and consumer electronics distributor, is planning to make a transition in its management as current president Gary Brothers succeeds to a new position of president emeritus over the course of the year.
Brothers will continue in his current capacity through the end of D&H’s fiscal year, during which time Michael Schwab, current vice president of purchasing, and Dan Schwab, current vice president of marketing, will assume the roles of co-presidents. Michael and Dan Schwab have a combined 33 years experience at D&H.
Brothers has been an instrumental part of other D&H transitions, including the companys change from a regional to a national distributor, along with CEO Izzy Schwab, vice president of sales Jeff Davis and other D&H executives who will continue as part of the upper management team. CEO Izzy Schwab will remain in his current capacity, and Jeff Davis will be promoted to senior vice president of sales. Together, the full D&H management team will focus on seamlessly maintaining the current direction of all D&Hs programs, policies, and relationships.
Brothers has been president at D&H since 1999 and has been a D&H employee since 1973. He began his career at D&H as a sales rep. in the Baltimore office. By 1979 he was promoted to the Harrisburg headquarters, where he helped establish D&Hs Electronic Specialty Products Division, later to become the Computer Products Division. He was named president in 1999, during which time he helped guide the company through an era of outstanding growth, bringing it from a $400M to an approximately $2B distributor in an eight-year period.
Michael Schwab played a key role in D&Hs recent partnerships with both Lenovo and Cisco Systems. He has been with D&H since 1989, when he came on as an outside sales rep. for the Philadelphia area. In 1991, Michael joined the corporate group in Harrisburg as director of merchandising, and was promoted to vice president of purchasing in 1999. He has legal and financial degrees from the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School and Villanova University, and previously worked for Arthur Andersen, one of the countrys top accounting and consulting firms.
Dan Schwab joined D&H in 1995, when he was recruited to manage D&Hs Education Division. The division grew 30-fold from a base of under $5M in less than six years, establishing D&H as the number one distributor to college bookstores and K-12 resellers. Dan was named vice president of marketing in 2001, contributing to the company’s significant growth period. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, and held previous retail positions with the May Co.s Lord & Taylor in Manhattan.
