Less Than a Month In, Galli Is Already Building a New Team at Chervon

Less than a month after Joe Galli joined Chervon, eight key appointments were already in place.

Several of the people involved had helped Milwaukee and RYOBI expand their markets. Now they are working for the company behind EGO, FLEX and SKIL.

Galli formally became Chervon's CEO on September 10. By October 5, the company had announced seven incoming managers and the internal promotion of a product leader. The changes span sales, recruitment, product development and user research. Galli's appointment announcement

*Cover: Original historical portrait of Joe Galli from TTI's 2018 annual report, arranged with editorial typography. This is not a photograph of his arrival at Chervon.*

Start with the two executives who arrived four days after he took over.

Matthew DeFeo became senior vice president of sales, training and recruiting, reporting directly to Galli.

The combination of responsibilities is revealing. Many companies leave recruitment to human resources and selling to the sales department. Chervon has put sales, talent recruitment and development under one executive.

DeFeo helped launch DeWalt's professional tool business early in his career. He joined TTI in 2006 and later helped build a sales organization of more than 2,300 people across the United States and Mexico. His experience includes recruiting university graduates and training them for careers in store-level sales, account management and leadership. Chervon's DeFeo announcement

For Chervon, the value of this hire lies in bringing in someone who can keep recruiting and developing people to build a sales force.

Jeffrey Campbell joined on the same day to lead industrial and commercial sales.

He previously worked at Porter-Cable, Irwin, Lenox, Werner and Apex. He knows the distribution channels for professional and automotive tools, along with their customers' after-sales requirements. Chervon's Campbell announcement

That points to Chervon strengthening its professional channels beyond big-box retail. Selling a drill to a household and persuading a repair shop or construction business to buy tools regularly call for different sales teams.

By September 28, the changes had reached product development.

Chervon promoted Kevin Gee to vice president of professional product development for FLEX, reporting directly to Galli.

At Milwaukee, Gee had moved through store-level sales, marketing and product management, working in Canada, Asia and the United States. He also served as director of product management for Milwaukee Pro Tools.

Gee had already joined Chervon earlier in 2026, so this was an internal promotion. His new responsibility is to build and lead FLEX's professional tool product development team.

That makes FLEX the brand explicitly singled out for stronger product development in this round of appointments. Report on Gee's promotion

Trevor Bithrey joined on the same day to lead professional end-user marketing and research in Canada.

He had worked in DeWalt's and Milwaukee's Canadian businesses, with responsibilities including end-user marketing, product service and brand management.

His announcement contained another detail more consequential than an individual career history: Chervon had formed a global end-user research and jobsite marketing team, reporting directly to Galli. Chervon's Bithrey announcement

In other words, Chervon intends to put more work into the places where tools are actually used. How plumbers install pipes, how electricians work, which tasks waste time and which tools prove awkward to use can all feed into product development.

*Two appointments announced for September 28, 2026. The lines show disclosed reporting relationships, not a complete organization chart. Portraits of Kevin Gee and Trevor Bithrey are reproduced from their appointment coverage in citybiz. Galli’s historical portrait is from TTI’s 2018 annual report.*

Four more appointments followed on October 5.

In Canada, Neil Harrison became vice president of sales and marketing and managing director, reporting directly to Galli. He has extensive experience at TTI and Milwaukee in product, channel and regional sales management.

Claudio Chiappetta took charge of Canadian retail sales, reporting to Harrison. He had helped introduce Milwaukee cordless products to Canada and had also built and managed RYOBI's outdoor power equipment portfolio and other tool brands.

Together with Bithrey, who had arrived earlier, the Canadian business now has appointments covering overall management, retail sales and professional end-user research. Harrison announcement and Chiappetta announcement

*Canadian appointments and disclosed reporting relationships as of October 5, 2026. Bithrey reports directly to Galli, not to Harrison. Portraits: citybiz appointment coverage for Neil Harrison, Claudio Chiappetta and Trevor Bithrey; Galli: TTI, 2018.*

In the United States, Peter Carlson became director of sales for strategic accounts, reporting to Campbell. He began at Makita before joining TTI and Milwaukee and has spent years managing major accounts across physical stores and e-commerce.

Daniel Abbott took responsibility for sales in the western United States, reporting to DeFeo. A former Home Depot store manager, he subsequently spent many years at TTI and Milwaukee, where he led a sales team of more than 700 people. Carlson announcement and Abbott announcement

*The October 5 appointments place regional sales and strategic accounts under the senior executives appointed on September 14. This diagram shows only the relationships discussed in the article. Portraits: citybiz coverage of Matthew DeFeo and Peter Carlson; Jeffrey Campbell’s historical portrait: SEMA, 2017; Galli: TTI, 2018. No verified portrait of Daniel Abbott was available, so his initials are shown.*

Put these positions together and Galli's approach begins to emerge.

There are people going onto jobsites to study users, people developing FLEX products, and people managing professional distributors, major accounts and store-level sales. Alongside them is an executive responsible for continually recruiting and developing sales talent.

My assessment is that Galli is connecting the professional tool operating model he knows to Chervon's existing research, development and manufacturing capabilities.

Chervon already has brands, factories and cordless technology. The next task is to strengthen its ability to get more professional users to try its tools, persuade distributors to recommend them and keep products selling over time.

The new group brings experience in professional tools, consumer tools and outdoor power equipment. The potential benefits therefore extend beyond FLEX: EGO and SKIL could also draw on these channel and talent resources.

These appointments cannot yet be counted as new orders, but Galli's opening moves are already concrete.

The next things to watch are the professional products FLEX introduces—and the customers and shelf space this new team can win for Chervon.

*Related reading: Pan Longquan and Joe Galli: Two Careers Converge at Chervon.*