The Thrace Group has appointed Andreas Lake to the newly created position of group development director for the technical fabrics division. Brian Sparks, formerly vice president of sales and business development, will replace Lake as general manager of the Thrace LINQ organization in Summerville, S.C. Lake has 26 years in the nonwoven fabric industry with extensive knowledge of various markets, technologies and products. Sparks has 17 years of experience in the technical fabrics industry and has been with Thrace LINQ since 2010.