Wiseway Supply acquires Kentucky Lighting and Supply
Wiseway Supply, founded in 1972 by Biz and Jackie Cain, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Kentucky Lighting & Supply.
Wiseway Supply, with seven branches located in the Greater Cincinnati market, is based in northern Kentucky. Kentucky Lighting & Supply, with three branches, is based about 75 miles down I-75 in Lexington, Kentucky. These two markets are contiguous with virtually no overlap of customers or sales personnel. This acquisition expands Wiseway Supply’s service area, now encompassing 10 branches, from central Ohio to central Kentucky with many key customers beyond that geography.
John Cain, Wiseway Supply’s owner and president noted, “This acquisition brings together two great teams with very similar cultures and a laser-like focus on customer service. Keeping the staff and vendors in place will ensure that our central Kentucky customers receive the same products and great service they have been accustomed to from the terrific Kentucky Lighting & Supply team recently led by Paula Minton. The acquisition of Kentucky Lighting & Supply fits well with our long-term plan of strategic, profitable growth.”
Minton, Kentucky Lighting & Supply’s former general manager, will join Wiseway’s executive team as vice president, showrooms. She will be the face of Wiseway Supply in Lexington, Kentucky. She said, “John and I have known and respected each other for more than 25 years. I am confident that the Wiseway Supply team will continue our business in much the same manner we have done for more than 60 years. Wiseway Supply will be able to service our very diverse customer base, perhaps even driving faster growth in our footprint with their innovative solutions and processes. We feel very comfortable handing over the reins to Wiseway Supply.”
Wiseway Supply is a family-owned and professionally managed distributor of electrical, plumbing and lighting supplies. Wiseway Supply considers its core values of “integrity, experience, innovation and results” to be as important today as they have been for more than 45 years.
For more information, visit wisewaysupply.com.
IMARK Members On the Move
Crescent Electric Supply Acquires National Electric Supply
IMARK member Crescent Electric Supply Co. in East Dubuque, Illinois has acquired National Electric Supply Co. Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico and all of the company’s locations.
National Electric Supply Co. Inc. will be a division of Crescent Electric Supply Co. and will operate under the National Electric name.
For more information, visit cesco.com.
ECHO Group Acquires St. Joseph Electric Supply
IMARK member St. Joseph Electric Supply in St. Joseph, Missouri has been acquired by IMARK member ECHO Group Inc., Council Bluffs, Iowa.
For more information, visit echogroupinc.com.
Sequel Electrical Supply Opens New Branch
Sequel Electrical Supply in Meridian, Mississippi has opened a new branch in Foley, Alabama. Branch Manager Mike Acton can be reached at macton@sequelelectricalsupply.com or 215-200-4290.
Sakura Distributors Inc. Joins IMARK Canada
IMARK Canada recently announced that Sakura Distributors Inc. in Surrey, British Columbia has joined the growing ranks of IMARK Canada members. Established in 2009, Sakura Distributors has grown to become one of the biggest distributors of electrical supplies in lower mainland British Columbia. They concentrate on serving customers in need in the residential, commercial and renovation markets. The company also operates branches in Abbotsford and Richmond.
For more information, visit sakuracanada.com.
United Electric Supply Strengthens Leadership Team
United Electric Supply, a 100 percent employee-owned, progressive, regional leader in electrical distribution in New Castle, Delaware, has announced the following sales and marketing leadership changes:
Greg Sundberg has been named regional vice president of sales, Chesapeake region, following his successful tenure as a district sales manager for United. Sundberg is a graduate of Penn State and began his career with United’s sales trainee program.
Sundberg joins Phil McCloud, regional vice president of sales for the Delaware Valley Region. McCloud has advanced within United, having held multiple leadership positions since joining six years ago. McCloud has 24 years of industry experience. Both Sundberg and McCloud are responsible for expanding the commercial construction, industrial and building automation business for the company.
Anthony Buonocore, former president of Westway Electric, has been named director of marketing, which includes digital transformation and non-assigned account growth strategies. As the leader of Westway, Buonocore successfully developed and implemented a B2C-styled web strategy targeted toward B2B customers. He is a former recipient of the “30 under 35” award from TED magazine. Westway Electric Supply was acquired by United Electric in July 2018. Buonocore will parlay his ecommerce experience at Westway to enhance United’s digital identity and expand its online sales initiatives.
For more information, visit unitedelectric.com.
Summit Names New Vice President, Supplier and Product Strategy
Summit Electric Supply has hired Judd Rogers as the company’s vice president, supplier and product strategy. In this role, Rogers will be responsible for enhancing relationships with Summit’s suppliers as the company continues to strengthen its position within the industry.
Rogers entered the electrical industry in 2001, starting in sales, operations and production. Over the years, Rogers has held management positions for large electrical distributors, managed key accounts for electrical manufacturers and most recently held a vice president position for an industrial lighting manufacturer.
For more information, visit summit.com.
Warshauer Announces Key Personnel Changes
Warshauer Electric Supply in Tinton Falls, New Jersey recently announced a new corporate controller, as well as major role reorganizations and promotions throughout several departments in the company, including operations, counter sales and commercial lighting.
George Kattak has joined the company as its new corporate controller. As a member of the executive management team, he will report directly to President Jim Warshauer. Kattak comes from Lucas Construction, where he held the position of chief financial officer (CFO). Prior to that, he was the CFO at AJ Perri and the director of finance/controller for Foley-Caterpillar. A graduate of Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, he is a certified public accountant and a chartered global management accountant.
Anthony Kurilla has been the corporate counter manager across all five Warshauer locations for two years and has officially been promoted to the branch manager of Warshauer Electric’s headquarters in Tinton Falls. He will work closely with Executive Vice President Jim Dunn and President Jim Warshauer to define his new role and responsibilities.
Courtney Gibbs has held assistant warehouse manager responsibilities since June 2015 as a warehouse associate in the Tinton Falls branch. He will now take on the role of the Tinton Falls warehouse manager. Jason Clayton, former warehouse associate, will assume the assistant warehouse manager role
Jules Calhoun has been working in the Tinton Falls branch as a warehouse associate for a little more than a year. He has displayed his drive and work ethic in the warehouse, as well as in attending Lincoln Tech at night to earn an associate’s degree as an electronic systems technician. Calhoun has been promoted to sales professional at the Lakewood counter.
Carol Fernandez has been working as a commercial lighting specialist based out of the Parsippany branch since February 2006, while Stacey Warshauer has been working as a commercial lighting specialist based out of the Tinton Falls branch. Fernandez is taking on the role of the commercial lighting north manager and Warshauer is taking on the role of the commercial lighting south manager.
Sam Marascio started with Warshauer in May 2016 and has had a meteoric rise in the company. Starting as a Tinton Falls counter sales professional, moving on to Lakewood as the Lakewood counter coordinator and now being promoted into commercial lighting. He earned his LS-I certification while working at the counter and is currently working on earning his LS-II certification.
For more information, visit warshauer.com.
Mayer Endorses NEMRA POS Standards
Mayer, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has joined the 41 manufacturers/brands and independent distributors in endorsing NEMRA’s Point of Sale (POS) Minimum Reporting Standards.
While Mayer has provided its key partners with POS information, it recognizes that the variances in information requested and formats desired is a channel inefficiency.
“Endorsing the NEMRA POS Minimum Reporting Standards makes sense on multiple fronts,” Wes Smith, president of supporting our branches. Second, the format streamlines the collection process and ensures data accuracy for manufacturers.
Defining POS as ‘place of sale’ helps ensure confidentiality for distributors with information being at the zip code level. We can share these minimum reporting standards with all of our manufacturers, and the standard enables us to share additional information with key strategic relationships as mutually agreed upon. Finally, the industry as a whole will see a measurable benefit by adopting these standards, so I strongly encourage all distributors and manufacturers to adopt.”
Smith further commented, “While we’ve endorsed the standards, we are also in the process of implementing them and anticipate providing POS information to manufacturers in the NEMRA format in the very near future.”
For more information, visit nemra.org/point-sale-initiative.