Last week, the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA), Chicago, named Kevin McCloskey the recipient of its Warren Pike Award for lifetime achievement in the power-transmission and motion-control (PT/MC) industry.

The PTDA is a nonprofit setup in 1960 to give distributors opportunities for networking, educational sessions, and business tools to stay competitive and profitable.

McCloskey is a Category Manager at Kaman Industrial Technologies Corp., a distributor that sells bearings, automation products, gearing, various fluid-power components, linear-motion devices, and more. He’s worked in the industry for 41 years.

The award is named after the PTDA’s co-founder and first president and established in 1984 to honor those who go above and beyond to support PTDA and the power transmission and motion-control  industry.

McCloskey has served on myriad PTDA committees and task forces and is currently a member of the Research & Innovation Committee. McCloskey also served on the Board of Directors from 1996-2002 and as the board president in 2001.

What’s interesting is that manufacturers weigh in on why they think the candidate earned the award.

“Kevin has been a great partner through the years for Dodge,” says Jeff Moore of Baldor Electric Co. “He collaborates well with our whole organization and … the thing I appreciate about Kevin is his transparency … if he doesn’t like something, he will tell you. It’s easy to have a trusting relationship when you can have frank conversations with a channel partner and Kevin has always been one of a handful of people who will roll up his sleeves and work to achieve a mutually beneficial result.”

One woman also honored by PTDA

With a different award last week, the PTDA also recognized Pat Wheeler of Motion Industries (Canada) with a brand-new award called the Wendy B. McDonald award.

McDonald was a female business owner and led her family’s industrial business, BC Bearings Engineers Ltd., for more than 60 years … during which it was exceedingly rare for women to lead companies involved in industrial distribution.

The PTDA’s McDonald award acknowledges women who are critical contributors to their companies and the power-transmission and motion-control industry as a whole.

The first recipient herself hails from BC Bearing (now Motion Industries Canada) in Kitimat. Wheeler started in 1980 as a shipper and receiver. From there, she moved into inside sales, and then office management, and then became branch manager … recognized in 2008 for almost single-handedly managing her territory.

In her acceptance speech during the PTDA Industry Summit in Orlando, Fla., Wheeler credited McDonald with being her idol and mentor.

This award is in my opinion particularly helpful, as for all the efforts put into attracting young women into STEM careers these days, I haven’t seen much in the way of recognition for established women in the industry. In fact, it’s these women that have demonstrated just how much STEM fields benefit when everyone get a fair shot at making a contribution.

The PTDA continues to grow, thanks in part to its conferences and online training conference; the PT/MC industry is a $67.7 billion business.