Sartomer Company, part of ATOFINA, the chemical branch of TOTAL, has annoucned that Kevin W. Rice, Christopher M. Stretch and Stephane Thion have been promoted to new sales positions, effective April 1. Sartomer also reports that Michael J. McQuade has joined the company as a technical sales representative for the mid-central region.

"These four individuals are important in continuing the tradition of excellent service that our customers have come to expect from Sartomer Company," said Al Tuccio, vice president of sales. "Our goal has always been to put the customer first."

Kevin W. Rice was promoted to agents/distributors relations manager for the United States, and is responsible for managing the working relationship between Sartomer Company and its growing network of domestic agents and distributors. He will work out of the company's Exton, Pa. headquarters. Rice has been with Sartomer since 1997, having served as a technical sales representative in the company's West and Southwest territories.

Christopher M. Stretch was appointed technical sales representative for Sartomer's Western territory. He will be responsible for sales in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada. With the company since 2001, Stretch had been technical sales representative in the mid-South region.

Stephane Thion was promoted to sales manager, Latin America and Canada, responsible for sales in Latin America and Canada. He will also handle distributor relations in these regions. Thion will be based in Exton, Pa. Prior to his promotion, Thion was sales manager for Sartomer's Norsolene hydrocarbon resins, responsible for all sales and marketing activities for the product line. Before joining Sartomer 1997, Thion was with Elf Lubricants (Paris) as auditor and trader, Asia-Pacific area.

Michael J. McQuade has joined Sartomer as senior technical sales representative for the company's mid-central region, which includes Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. In this position, he is responsible for the sales in this region. He has more than twenty years of technical service and sales experience, the most recent with Surface Specialties, UCB, Smyrna, Georgia.