Atkore Acquires Queen City Plastics
Atkore International Group Inc. recently acquired the assets of Queen City Plastics Inc., a manufacturer of PVC conduit, elbows and fittings for the electrical market.
Queen City Plastics, headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, has approximately 60 employees and will continue operating at its current location. The company offers a wide-ranging line of PVC products, including Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 rigid PVC conduit as well as conduit for encased or direct burial that meet UL, NEMA and ASTM specifications.
For more information, visit atkore.com.
Southwire Acquires CEP
Supporting the company’s growth strategy and building toward its goal to remain generationally sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond, Southwire is recently announced the acquisition of Construction Electrical Prod-ucts (CEP) of Livermore, California. Serving the construction and industrial markets for more than 40 years, CEP is an industry leader in the manufacturing of temporary power distribution and portable lighting products.
Through this acquisition, Southwire will welcome 47 employees from CEP and will integrate its 48,000-square-foot facility in Livermore, California to Southwire’s distribution footprint. CEP’s existing product line will be combined with Southwire’s rapidly expanding electrical safety and lighting solutions, adding popular products such as the 3-Phase Power Carts and the LED Balloon Light.
Additionally, Southwire will now be able to leverage CEP’s Custom UL 1640 manufacturing program, which has allowed CEP to build UL certified products to customer specifications.
For more information, visit southwire.com.
New Leviton LIVE Facility Opens in Chicago
Leviton has opened its Leviton LIVE experience center in Chicago. The state-of-the-art facility will allow customers to experience first-hand how Leviton’s innovative products can transform any space via private in-person or virtual tours. Located in the heart of Chicago on Rush Street, this latest addition to Leviton’s existing LIVE facilities was designed to not only showcase the wide range of Leviton products, but to highlight its best-in-class lighting brands and how they integrate with smart, flexible and secure controls.
“We are excited to open our newest Leviton LIVE facility that showcases the latest Leviton controls, lighting, network solutions, commercial, and residential products in the great city of Chicago,” said Leviton President and COO Daryoush Larizadeh. “We look forward to hosting our customers in the new space with customized virtual or in-person tour. Our guests will have an engaging and interactive experi-ence whether they are six feet in front of us or in their home office.”
The Chicago LIVE location allows Leviton to better serve its lighting and controls customers in the region. The lighting and controls business division features a wide range of exceptional brands and products from the uncompromising style and craftsmanship offered by Birchwood Lighting and the innovative and high-performance attributes embodied by ConTech Lighting to the leading-edge products by Intense Lighting and customizable and configurable luminaires by recently acquired Viscor. Leviton Lighting & Controls brands deliver innovative lighting solutions to commercial, hospitality, retail, healthcare and education environments.
Leviton LIVE Chicago is one of three Leviton LIVE experience centers in some of America’s greatest cities. Additional Leviton LIVE centers are in San Francisco and New Orleans. All Leviton LIVE facilities are now open and ready for both in-person and virtual tours.
To schedule a visit and learn more about Leviton LIVE Chicago, visit leviton.com/LIVE.
Leviton Back in the Wire Business
Many may remember when Leviton was in the wire and cable business, although on the construction side of the business with American Insulated Wire, which was sold to Southwire in 2010.
Now they are getting into data communications cable with the acquisition of Berk-Tek, a leading manufacturer of local area network copper and fiber cables.
Berk-Tek’s 350 employees as well as its facilities located in Pennsylvania and North Carolina have moved under Leviton ownership.
For more information, visit leviton.com.
David Nord Retires from Hubbell
David G. Nord recently announced his retirement as CEO of Hubbell Inc. In connection with Nord’s retirement, the Hubbell Inc. Board of Directors also announced that Gerben W. Bakker will succeed Nord as president and CEO. Bakker will also join the Hubbell board at David Nord that time. These leadership changes are the product of the board’s executive succession planning process and its transition planning with both Nord and Bakker. Nord will continue to serve as Hubbell’s executive chairman of the board until the company’s 2021 annual meeting in May to provide his continuing guidance and expertise, as well as to ensure a smooth transition.
Bakker was named president and chief operating officer (COO) of Hubbell in June 2019, after serving as president of the Power Systems group since 2014. During his tenure as COO, Bakker introduced a new operating rhythm to the enterprise while executing on Hubbell’s strategic initiatives and partnering closely with Nord to guide Hubbell through the COVID-19 pandemic. As president of Power Systems, Bakker oversaw a multi-year period of strong performance, building an industry-leading electrical T&D components business and leading many key acquisitions, including Aclara in 2018.
Bakker began his career with Hubbell Inc. in 1988 as a manufacturing engineer with Hubbell Wiring Systems and has held positions of increasing leadership around the world in both Hubbell’s utility and electrical segments.
“On behalf of the entire board, I would like to thank Dave for his 15 years of service to Hubbell,” said Anthony Guzzi, lead independent director of Hubbell. “Dave’s leadership enabled Hubbell to solve critical infrastructure problems for its customers and deliver strong financial returns for its shareholders, while simplifying Hubbell’s capital structure and building a strong leadership team for the future. Dave led Hubbell through a period of significant growth by overseeing a well-structured and strategic acqui-sition program that was rigorous, balanced and enhanced Hubbell’s competitive position across a variety of sectors, including establishing its leadership position within the util-ity industry. Most recently, Dave’s leadership in navigating Hubbell through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been exceptional, and I am highly confident that the strategic, proactive response of the Company under his stewardship will result in a stronger Hubbell over the long term. I would like to congratulate Gerben on his new role and look forward to him building on Hubbell’s proud tradition as he guides the Company into the future.”
For more information, visit hubbell.com.
Vicki Allin Retires from OmniCable
Omni Cable LLC recently announced the retirement of Vicki Allin, OmniCable’s director of territory sales.
Allin’s electrical industry career began in 1980 while employed at French Gerleman in St. Louis, Missouri. She then joined OmniCable in December 2001 as an account manager at the company’s St. Louis branch. Over the years, Allin held various roles including sales manager, assistant branch manager, Chicago branch manager and territory sales manager.
“During her time with OmniCable, she built a legacy amongst her customers, vendors, and peers with first-class service and sales professionalism,” said Greg Lampert, OmniCable’s president and CEO. “Her passion for our outside sales teams and sales excellence allowed her to step up two years ago and accept the role of director of territory sales managers. In this role, she launched a training and development pro-gram for OmniCable’s outside sales team. Vicki has been a collaborator on many projects that have shaped OmniCable to what it is today.”
Allin, who resides in the St. Charles, Missouri area, said she plans on going on adventures with her grandchildren, family and friends. She also will work with her husband in his restaurant and at the women’s fitness club that she owns and operates.
“It has been such a joy to be a part of the remarkable growth and positive changes at OmniCable,” Allin said. “I am truly grateful for the incredible people who have been a mentor to me and with whom I have worked with to help me achieve success.”
For more information, visit omnicable.com.
Milbank Promotes Sales Team Members
Milbank Manufacturing recently promoted several sales team members to support the company’s long-term growth strategy.
Adrienne Sander has been promoted to general manager. In her previous role as Adrienne Sander director of metering and commercial enclosures, Sander built solid customer relationships while working with engineering, supply chain and pro-duction teams to facilitate customer requests and honed her product knowledge. All this experience will benefit her as general manager over Milbank’s metering, commercial enclosures and enclosed controls product lines.
Chad Palmer, formerly product coordinator, has been promoted to product manager for Milbank’s enclosed controls line. Palmer’s contributions to the product line have been a key in its exceptional growth over the last few years. His experience with Milbank enclosed controls as well as his ability to understand the technical aspects of Milbank products makes him a huge asset to the team. He works hand in hand with engineering and the field sales team to create new designs that meet changing market conditions and provides training to sales reps to help them better understand how to sell the product.
Andrew Tait has been promoted to area sales manager for the western region. During his time at Milbank, Tait has held many roles within the sales department that have offered valuable experience with products and processes. In his new role, Tait will continue to educate distributors, electrical contractors and utilities on the advantages of Milbank products while also supporting rep partnerships in the western region.
Tony Beary has been promoted to senior technical sales and quotations representative for the eastern region. Over the past 10 years, Beary has worked to gain technical production knowledge, build relationships with customers and reps, and has taken on technical support for new territories with Milbank. Beary’s advanced knowledge of and enthusiasm for Milbank products is evident in his interactions with peers and customers.
For more information, visit milbankworks.com.
Bridgeport Fittings Announces Promotion, New Hire
Bridgeport Fittings in Connecticut recently promoted Marly Saxton to the position of customer service manager.
Saxton has been with Bridgeport Fittings since 2011. Over those 9 years, she has worked closely with Wendy Pelkey handling all aspects of customer service, rep training, VMI, along with countless other responsibilities. Saxton will be stepping into the role Pelkey has held for the past 15 years. Pelkey retired at the end of October.
Reporting to Saxton is the newly hired senior customer response representative, Gina Guzowski. Guzowski comes to Bridgeport Fittings with more than 15 years of strong customer service knowledge. She has spent 10 years with Perkin Elmer as a service and sales team associate and last year with Times Microwave Systems where she managed the North East and Canadian Territories.
For more information, visit bptfittings.com.
Private Equity Firm Acquires Epicor
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), KKR and Epicor Software Corp. recently announced a definitive agreement whereby CD&R funds will acquire Epicor, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to industrial-focused sectors, from leading global investment firm KKR.
The transaction represents an important milestone for Epicor, a leading enterprise software vendor delivering cloud-enabled services to more than 20,000 customers globally. Epicor’s flagship products are curated to support complex, vertical-specific workflows and provide mission-critical support to customers seeking to drive growth and profitability in their own businesses. Epicor is an acknowledged leader in the industrial end markets it serves, including manufacturing, distribution, retail, and services categories.
Over the past four years under KKR’s ownership, Epicor’s executive team, led by CEO Steve Murphy, has driven growth through a combination of organic investments and strategic acquisitions. A series of new product releases has led to a revenue mix comprising 73% recurring revenue, which includes an industry-leading SaaS business growth rate of 60% year-to-date. Epicor is well-positioned for its exciting next chapter under CD&R ownership.
CD&R Operating Partner Jeff Hawn will serve as chairman of the Epicor board upon close of the transaction, expected later this year. Hawn has more than 20 years’ experience across a range of senior executive roles in software and technology-related businesses, including serving as chairman and CEO of Quest Software, Vertafore and Attachmate.
For more information, visit epicor.com.