Three HURST Jaws of Life leaders have earned promotions at HURST Jaws of Life and within IDEX Fire & Safety, a business unit of IDEX, the legendary rescue tool brand’s parent company: Bruce Johnston has been promoted to Director of Marketing, IDEX North American Fire & Safety; Mike Canon has been named Director of Rescue Sales, IDEX Fire & Safety Commercial; and Jeff Jasmin has taken the post of Acting Site Leader – HURST.
The new roles build on the transition of IDEX Fire & Safety (IDEX F&S) from a component supplier into a provider of integrated solutions able to solve complex challenges for end users and channel partners.
Solving complex challenges
Johnston joined the company a decade ago to grow the HURST Jaws of Life brand through marketing, customer service and product management. In addition to HURST, in his new role Johnston will assume responsibility for all North American marketing activities for Akron Brass, Hale and F&S Electronics.
A strategic planner and strong collaborator with a creative and critical eye, Johnston guides the HURST Jaws of Life brand and has directed product launches for the eDRAULIC® line of rescue tools – the industry’s first battery-powered tools with the power of a hose line – the StrongArm® multitool for fire and law enforcement and, most recently, the eDRAULIC Watertight Extrication Tool (EWXT), another industry first.
Overseeing marketing initiatives
Johnston earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina
Johnston began his career in sales before moving into marketing, and he has spent the last 30 years setting brand initiatives, market research, interpreting Voice of the Consumer data for product development and overseeing marketing initiatives from advertising campaigns to trade shows and website management to social media.
Johnston earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Johnston will continue to be based at HURST Jaws of Life’s headquarters in Shelby, North Carolina.
Mike Canon, newly named Director of Rescue Sales for IDEX Fire and Safety Commercial, has built his career equipping firefighters and other first responders with protective equipment and rescue tools. He joined HURST nearly 10 years ago and has led the sales team for the past five years. Prior to joining HURST, Canon was a branch manager for the largest distributor and service provider for protection equipment in New England.
Mission critical work
A New England native, Canon holds his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Maine. Jasmin is promoted to Acting Site Leader – HURST, where he’ll oversee operations for HURST Jaws of Life manufacturing in Shelby.
His previous post as Director of Supply Chain and Quality positioned him well for his new role; for the past 18 months, his focus has been on the mission critical work of ensuring quality, service, sourcing, purchasing and operations scheduling at the plant.
Quality management positions
During his tenure in that role, HURST Jaws of Life implemented new manufacturing equipment, launched its EWXT line and expanded its eDRAULIC 2.0 line to provide first responders with tools designed to perform on vehicles of the future.
Jasmin previously held engineering and quality management positions at Caterpillar and United Technologies Company in their Climate Controls and Security and Fire and Security Products divisions. Jasmin holds his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Tech and his M.B.A. from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
