MCHENRY, Ill. -- Metro Paint Supplies has named Mark Claypool its new regional manager for the Midwest region. His appointment was announced May 31. Claypool will report to Bob Roewer, Metro’s VP of Sales and Marketing.

Founded in 1951, Metro Paint Supplies serves the automotive, industrial and marine markets with corporate headquarters in McHenry, Ill., and a network of stores in Colorado and Illinois. Metro is a DuPont Champions Distributor and is the largest Standox Distributor in North America.

Claypool, most recently the CEO and founder of Optima Worldwide, will oversee a team of 12 sales representatives, technical specialists and business development managers in the Chicago area as well as northwest Indiana and southeast Wisconsin.

Claypool also previously served as the president of Select Tech; vice president of operations for VeriFacts Automotive; co-founder of Mentors At Work and the Collision Industry Foundation; executive director of the National Auto Body Council; executive director of the I-CAR Education Foundation; and the director of development for SkillsUSA.

“We’re very excited to have Mark join our team,” said Bill Weiss, owner and CEO of Metro Paint Supplies. “Mark greatly extends our mission to increase the value we bring to our customer relationships.”

“I’ve missed being out in the field rubbing elbows with shop management,” added Claypool. “Being in an office the past few years was great but I love the people in the collision repair industry and this opportunity, in my own back yard, gives me the chance to interact with shops every day. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Claypool has more than 28 years of experience in workforce apprenticeship programs, process and procedure development and delivery, marketing, website development, search engine optimization and social media management.

Claypool has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.