City Electric Supply (CES) (Dallas)
After 15 years of leadership as chief executive officer, Thomas Hartland-Mackie has stepped into a new role and will now serve as the executive chairman of City Electric Supply and City Electrical Factors (CEF), the company’s U.K. sector, to support their growth through high-level strategy and culture. Hartland-Mackie will remain as the CEO of Labora Group, the family holding company, to focus on its continued growth.
Co-COOs Andrew Dawes and John Gray will take over as co-CEOs. Hartland-Mackie joined the business in 2006 as a trainee under his grandfather, Tom Mackie. Mackie said that his five-year training program was unexpectedly cut short, and that in 2008, at the age of 20, he took over for his grandfather as CEO of City Electric Supply, and in 2011 as chairman of the board for City Electrical Factors.
According to the press release, Hartland-Mackie has helped navigate the company through the difficulty of the financial crisis in 2008 and the uncertainty of COVID-19. Under his leadership, CES became a Top 10 electrical wholesale distributor in the U.S.; celebrated 10 years of consecutive double-digit growth; achieved record sales; and witnessed nearly 1,400 internal promotions over the past three years. The company also kicked off a e-commerce platform, CES Online, in 2019 and strategically opened five fulfillment centers across the U.S. to support and scale the ecommerce business.
John Gray joined the company in 1986 at just 18 years old as a driver. He went from delivering supplies and organizing the warehouse to selling door-to-door, and becoming a branch manager at CEF Harrow in northwest London. At just 24 years old. He later moved to the U.S. to support the expansion of the company in the Carolinas. For two decades, he helped oversee new branches in North Carolina, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Kansas, Oklahoma, Philadelphia and the Washington D.C. area.
In 1992, Andrew Dawes kicked off his career as a driver, moved to inside sales, then to branch manager and continued to climb up the ladder. He became the VP of operations for the Canadian business in 2012. He helped the company reach consistent profit with new branch openings. In 2017, Dawes moved to the U.S. when he was appointed Co-COO alongside John Gray while continuing to oversee the Canadian business and helping lead the growth of newer operations like CES Online and National Solutions.
Hartland-Mackie has also stepped down as global chief executive officer over CES and CEF and has promoted Jeremy Saunders, who has most recently served as Co-CEO of CEF, to the position.
Leviton (Melville, NY)
Brian Sorensen was promoted to VP of U.S. Sales, Network Solutions, and will assume the role from Brad Leland who will retire on January 2, 2024.
Since beginning his career as a national account manager at Leviton in 2006, Sorensen supported global relationships across diverse geographies, meeting strategic objectives to support value added distribution.
In his new role, Sorensen will leverage his relationship skills to help Leviton capitalize on technology convergence and globalization. During his time with Leviton over the past 16 years, Leland helped build the company’s network solutions offerings, including leading Leviton’s acquisition of Berk-Tek. The acquisition solidified Leviton as a single-source manufacturer of end-to-end systems — including connectivity and cable — for customers around the world.
Obituary - Swift Electrical Supply, Teterboro, NJ
Eliseu “Lee” Vieira, an outside salesperson with Swift Electrical Supply passed away on Aug. 27 from pancreatic cancer. He had been with Swift Electrical Supply for the past seven years. Known for his hard work ethic, Lee was calling on customers up until two days before his passing.
Vieira made a lasting impression on his coworkers and customers alike, and never mentioned to anyone at Swift Electrical Supply about the severity of his illness. As one colleague put it, “Lee was strong in every sense of the word. He was determined to beat this, and I believed if anyone could, it would have been Lee. He will be missed with the greatest respect and will be remembered as one of the most straightforward, honest and hardworking people I have ever known.”