Ewing-Foley Inc., Cupertino Calif., and Miller Electrical Sales, Phoenix, have merged and will operate under the Ewing Foley Inc. brand. A full integration of the rep agencies was completed June 1.
Miller Electrical Sales was established in 1982 to market and support manufacturers in Arizona and southern Nevada. The current staff of six, including four outside and two inside sales professionals, will be joining the newly formed EFI AZ Electrical Division team. Doug Miller will continue to lead the current business and will report to Kevin Carroll, EFI V.P. and managing partner for the company’s Southwest Electrical Region.
“Joining forces with Ewing Foley will give us the scale and back office support our manufacturers are requesting,” Miller said. “We looked at several options for our succession planning and this was clearly the best choice for all our constituents.”
EFI’s Kevin Carroll anticipates a seamless transition as the two firms have several major lines in common. “This is a merger of two highly compatible firms,” he said in the press release. “Our companies have worked together in the past and the management from both companies have had a long relationship with one another as industry peers.”
“This is not about getting bigger, rather an opportunity for both companies to get better,” Ewing-Foley President Gary Lessing added in the release. “Our teams will be very focused on this goal as it is ultimately what our customers and principals will expect as a result of this venture.”
Ewing-Foley, Inc. is a 49-year-old employee-owned company (ESOP) with offices in Los Angeles, Cupertino, and Auburn, Calif.; Portland, Ore., and Seattle, and more than 100 sales associates. President Gary Lessing oversees four independently managed divisions including Electrical, Lighting, Networking and Electronic Components. With operations in California, Alaska, Arizona, northern Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, Ewing-Foley is one of the largest independent rep agencies in the nation. Over the years, two of the company’s executives won GEM Awards from Electrical Wholesaling for their leadership qualities and volunteer efforts with the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association (NEMRA) — Peter Ewing in 1998 and Gary Lessing in 2009.