MHEFI Announces New Board Members

The Material Handling Education Foundation, Inc. (MHEFI) Board of Directors announced the election of three new directors whose terms began January 1, 2022.

Jay Anderson, President, Steel King Industries, Inc.

Jay Anderson is president of Steel King Industries since 2001. Steel King is involved in the storage rack industry, with solutions ranging from traditional selective racks to automated rack systems and rack supported buildings. Prior to becoming president, Anderson worked in marketing and sales at Steel King. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point. He has participated in four Industry Groups within MHI since 1997, served in leadership roles within these groups, the Roundtable, and MHI Board of Governors. Off the clock, he enjoys spending time at the family cabin in far northern Wisconsin.

Patricia Blessing, Vice President of Business Development, CAVU Group

Patricia Blessing is the vice president of business development at Dayton, OH-based CAVU Group. In her role, Blessing works closely with customers in the life sciences, healthcare, medical device and diagnostics industries to solve today’s rapidly changing thermal management and monitoring needs using advanced sensor technologies including thermachromatic inks, RFID, PCM based electronics loggers, specialty packaging and more. Blessing has over 20 years of experience in leadership roles in supply chain operation and technology sales. She is currently on the board of AIM, chairs the AIM NA UDI Workgroup, supports local universities in their course development efforts and sits on the advisory boards of several start-up companies in Southwest Ohio.

James Cabot, President & CEO, Southworth International Group, Inc.

James Cabot is the president and chief executive officer of Southworth International Group, Inc. since 2019. Southworth is involved in the design, manufacture, distribution and installation of vertical lifting and work positioning equipment used primarily in industrial and logistics environments. Earlier in his career, Cabot was an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York and vice president of the Center for Social and Economic Research, a public policy-focused think tank in Warsaw, Poland. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. In addition to the MHI Roundtable, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Maine International Trade Center. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, sailing, the outdoors and reading.