DEERFIELD BEACH, FL -- Eric Edelmayer has joined Mapei Americas as the Business Development Manager for sheet membranes. Eselmayer has been in the tile industry for over 30 years, specializing in sheet membranes for waterproofing, crack isolation and sound reduction. He is active in, and a voting member of, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Materials and Methods Standards Association (MMSA), ASTM International (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) and the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) technical committees. Edelmayer has worked on ISO standards and the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) handbook.

Introducing new concepts has become commonplace with Edelmayer. "I have been an active association member throughout my career, and I truly enjoy the work," he said. "Two examples highlight the trials and triumphs or working with standards committees. I first worked with the MMSA, including Louis Couillard of Mapei, on writing the crack-isolation standard for ANSI. It took us nine years to get the standard passed. At the other end of the spectrum, it took only one year to get the sound-reduction standard written and passed."

Edelmayer's experience varies from technical services to sales management, and he is a leading expert in the industry within the membranes business. Before joining Mapei, Edelmayer was the Director of Contractor Services with Noble Co.

As a Business Development Manager with Mapei, Edelmayer will be promoting existing sheet- membrane products and expanding the company's sale of sheet membranes into new areas. He will be working with sales teams and the technical teams, as well as the company's architectural team, to promote sheet membranes as a specific category and highlight their importance in surface preparation for tile and stone installations. In this position, Edelmayer will be reporting directly to Carol Hould, Director, National Sales.

"Eric has the expertise to help us from both sales and technical perspectives," said Hould. "His technical knowledge of sheet membranes will be instrumental in helping us expand this category and in positioning our branding strategy as we develop an offering that extends from underground through the roof on construction sites."