Change is in the air at USESI, the sister company to CED. While USESI does not report to CED, many presume that there is a connection between the two companies, other than ownership by Keith Colburn. It appears that as of November 1, the perception of this relationship will become closer, although the Colburn family owns a number of distribution companies, perhaps multiples in the same industry, through its holding company.
ElectricalTrends has learned that Randy Eddy, RVP for CED and responsible for its Gateway Region, which is primarily, if not solely, Rockwell houses, will become the new president of USESI in addition to retaining his RVP, Gateway Region responsibilities.
Richard Worthy will be staying with USESI until October 30 and then “pursuing outside interests.” Worthy was president of USESI for 3 years, and prior to that had co-founded USESI with backing from Michael Dell’s MSD Capital and before that was the face of Sonepar in the U.S. Many in the electrical industry know of Richard for his prolific acquisition strategy to grow revenues.
While no reason was given for the change, in this economic environment, it is usually inadequate financial performance (bottom line), strategy differences, or cultural fit (or the contract was up.)
Having spoken to distributors in the New England area, as well as manufacturers, here’s some thoughts:
- Distributors who competed with USESI for contractor business will now presume that margins will improve somewhat as it was felt that USESI’s strategy was based upon price.
- Bob Smith from IMARK is probably already calling Randy to set an appointment to meet him the first week in November! USESI is an IMARK member. CED has acquired IMARK members and then brought them out of the group. Since USESI is a separate company, the decision to stay or leave rests with Randy. He obviously has a sense of the benefits from CED’s programs and will make his own evaluation in the best interests of USESI. But the pressure will be on IMARK to show the value of membership (and USESI is probably IMARK’s largest member.)
- Rumor in the market was that USESI was not as profitable as CED profit centers. Knowing the Colburn focus on profit centers (hence their name) …
- Look for increased focus on performance as well as value-added services, after-all, Randy has been managing Rockwell locations and Rockwell is not a price line and expects its distributors to sell services.
- Expect some personnel changes over the next 6-12 months. A number of USESI management had “followed” Richard from past lives.
- Much was made of USESI’s distribution model. Will the current “distribution-center” centric model continue given the experiences that Randy has had?
- Will the company continue to be assembled through acquisitions or will there be more of a focus on organic growth and opportunistic acquisitions?
- Perhaps look for some cost cutting … people? locations?
- Many thought that Richard Worthy’s “style” would be an interesting mix with what they know of as the CED culture (although USESI was a different company) and were surprised that Richard would lead USESI after it was acquired by the Colburn family, especially given the CED mantra of “service, integrity, reliability”. Again, from distributors, some of these attributes appeared missing from the value proposition.
- And some people wondered “why did it take so long.”
Regardless of the whys, it represents a new opportunity for Randy (congrats to Randy) and more change in the marketplace. How do you think this can affect the markets where USESI competes? Is this a worthy change for the Colburn family?
41 Comments
wouldn’t sell my business to him as I wanted my employees to be cared for
Lack of Ethics is another way to look at it.One suspects that all the profits that were promised didn’t materialize…but who knows for sure.One thing is for sure, I suspect they’ll have to raise their prices.
Now Sonepar will be the price distributor in certain markets…….
CED will no longer put up with the low margins in a bad economy that Worthy and his boys have been posting. We alos would not sell to him for concern of employee care.
Perhaps look for some cost cutting … people? locations? Its about time maybe some of the branches who can’t pull their weight!! Make them accountable!! CED will no longer put up with the low margins in a bad economy Expect some personnel changes over the next 6-12 months. A number of USESI management had “followed” Richard from past lives. lol lol instant “karma” gonna get you!!!
why did it take so long…ced could afford to pay off his contract…the man knew how to spend other people’s money…he and his sycophants
ruined employee’s lives..and the business’ he bought
why did it take so long? ced should have gotten
rid of him and his sycophants along time ago
he talks alot…but absolutely has no idea of how to run a business .. spending other people’s money he is an expert…within one year after
starting he needed ced to bail him out of msd and kelso[venture capitalists]he won’t be missed
Worthy should call IESC (Rexel/Gexpro) he would fit in nicely with that “not appreciating the people who make it work” group.
“Worthy should call IESC (Rexel/Gexpro) he would fit in nicely with that “not appreciating the people who make it work” group.”
Amen to that!
The man crawled out of a hole, ruined many people’s lives, made an ass out of himself, is incompetent, and hopefully, will rot in hell! Richard Worthless would do use all a favor and go to hell with Brand!
It bother me to this day, after being successful in the electrical business working with the infamous Ealge Electric Suppy Co, Inc., that these two people could ruin so many lives in such a short time! The good name of Eagle Electric no longer exists after over 80 years in the business and being at the top of their game, that some sleazy individules are proud to say, I helped them into ruin! Worthy and Brand deserve eachother! They are two of a kind and any distributorship that would consider selling to them, has no regard for their employees. The business, in my day, was always run with morals and respect, it is time the dirty bastards learn what made the industry so great!
Brand isn’t the only “President” that’s weak. Worthy hired them all because they could bring a lot of low-margin volume in a short time. Then, when the volume business dropped off sharply in the recession, there was little left. Randy will have his hands full trying to turn this whole mess around. I would look for a lot of consolidation within IESC.
Previous comment should have read USESI and not IESC. Too much alphabet soup, I guess…
Sounds like sour grapes to me. Sounds like you sold your company too cheap and blamed that on somebody else. I’m sure he didnt hold a gun to anyones head and make them sign. And if you didnt sell to him 3 yrs ago, I bet you wish you had NOW!!
Carl Brand was let go today. Randy Eddy has made 1 good move already. Manager’s who’ve followed Worthy from Sonepar are probably concerned.
It appears time wasn’t on Carl’s side, no it wasn’t. Karma is a bitch.
Rich Worthy, although an unbelievably intelligent person, surrounded himself with inept managerial people. Carl Brand,one of the most disliked persons in the industry, when is he going to realize he is not wanted. All the personnel that USESI “stole” from Standard Electric, I hope they realize now what a major mistake they made. USESI under the “leadership” of Rich Worthy and Carl Brand ruined the fair business climate in New England!!
Let’s get one thing straight, Richard and Carl did not leave to pursue other ventures as some would like you to believe. They were let go for poor performance and that alone. Don’t believe this is over, there will be more.
LM watch your back…..
Carl even manages to pull the wool over his 90 year old fathers eyes. It’s hard to believe he is actually the offspring of one of the most respected persons in the business. He should have paid more attention to how his father built and ran a truly successful company & how well he treated his employees. Too bad Abe had to go through seeing many of his long time employees let go and the business he so successfully ran, brought down in part by the hand of his own son.
I have worked in this industry for a long time. People have commented that this article and blog are unprofessional, relating to this issue. I disagree. Feelings are feelings. It’s about time there was a media to communicate these pent up frustrations about Richard Worthy and Carl Brand. Also, if it is so unprofessional, why are so many complaining about it? Because they’re all reading it and agreeing with it. These two attempted to basically dismember the industry and convert it into a quick turn & earn supermarket with no “brand”ing, personality, profit or marketability. They lost; 3 Times if you include how he tortured GE Supply. Each time he left, it was a mystery. The company was financially sick and Richard fabricated some story about how he was offered a position but just didnt want it. The only people who deserve more criticism than Richard and Carl, are the pussies who sold them after complaining about it for so long. It’s hypocritical. We’re all guilty of being afraid and opportunistic. We should learn from this. Our industry is unique. Let’s keep it that way. The people have had it with fraud, extortion, disrespect, threats, and other assorted assundries over the years. Put a No Smoking sign on the two of them.
Any business madel that existed 5-10 years ago is under scrutiny now. The only exception to that might be CED, but one would never know as they are private. No one is making money of any signifigance, and struggling to stay afloat. Its easy to Monday morning QB about Worthy and his team(s). Fact of the matter is he built a company from ZERO to over a billion in revenue in about 7 years. And the Soneopar people are still laughing all the way to the bank. Some excellent acquisitions were made, and most of those owners are sipping cocktails at the country club now. Relating to USESI, it was started at the beginning of the greatest recession since the great depression, most building leases were signed at the peak of the commercial real estate market thereby causing those USESI companies to absorb unsustainable lease costs. In spite of that, they are making money as a company.
Considering all that, it shows Worthy and his “sycophants” arent the folks you try to make them out to be
And, NO, I dont work for Worthy
Arrogant, egotistical, full of himself, prick at times….all yes….but its business, not a social club
Sounds like a lot of bitter people. I am sure all of these comments are completely based on fact. If this site didn’t let everyone post under “anonymous” there wouldn’t be many comments.
I would love some of these “anonymous” names to surface. I have a feeling I know who they are. Some know dribs and drabs but nothing fact. Like the last gentleman said. The company was started a year before the biggest economic hit since the great depression. And I am one of the “followers” and I work for an American now. Not a greedy lying Frenchy. Competition is healthy so get out there and sell. 🙂
Anonymous said…”If this site didn’t let everyone post under “anonymous” there wouldn’t be many comments.”
Do you see the irony in that?
As I read these comments, I am baffled by people defending the Worthy regime and the changes, which by the way ended up more of dismantling of Standard Electric. The reason Standard Electric was the most successful distributor in New England was due to the heart & soul of Dennis Miller. He kept the Brand tradition even after the company was sold..if you are sports minded you hear the term “heart” in athletes. CED made a huge mistake by letting Dennis Miller leave because when he left the HEART of Standard Electric left as well. The loyalty the employees had for the Brand family was carried over to Miller. What a difference a year makes. I work for Standard Electric and have for some time, we were the best.
I had the privilege of working for Abe Brand and Standard Electric twice. It was a fabulous company to work for.
It was well known by those that worked at Standard when Carl was there that he was the apple that rolled too far from the tree. After he left it was obvious that he was out to destroy his fathers business. I was sad to hear that so many good Standard employees left the business to go to USESI. Ironic that they all wound up “coming home” when CED bought USESI. I know from first hand accounts that there were a lot of USESI people nervously shifting in their seat when they were bought by CED and for all intents part of Standard again.
Regardless, one thing is for sure, Randy Eddy will fix what’s broken there. I was a PC manager in his region a few years ago and he’s a helluva manager. My money says the CED model will be rolled out across the USESI branches and the hubs to go away as soon as practical.
It really makes you wonder what kind of people worthy and brand really are, they have literally ruined peoples lives for there own gains, destroyed a market to justify there self worth. Can anyone one mention something positive either one of them did personally or for the industry other than take from the many and give to the few, I can only pray the both have a taste of what they have done to the people that put them into there multiple homes and cars. Neither one of them could hold a candle to Mr. Abe Brand or Mr. Dennis Miller.
Other locations have been effected by this group. One of the best distributors in the country EW in Connecticut. 50 years down the drain. The Namerow’s knew how to service their customer’s and take care of there employee’s. With USESI it is just how lean can we run it.
With all being said about USESI, Mr.Brand & Mr. Worthy, you have to wonder if other New England distributors, and their arrogant management will learn from this? I can hear all of them saying, “I told you so!” (although they all predicted this would happen years ago). But are these others any different? They may not be “low price driven”, but there are many similarities on how they treat their people. Someone once told me that distribution is a “simple” business, but in reality it’s not because of the amount of variables from pre-order to getting paid. However, the one constant is the people within the organization. When upper management “devalues” it’s people, takes them for granted, and leverages the profits off their backs, they eventually succumb to poor performance, lack of growth, and lack of profitability. The products are basically the same. The costs are basically the same. Although business models may vary, the core to any distribution business is it’s people. Customers do business with people, not necessarily companies or it’s products. Hopefully, lessons are learned, and this situation isn’t just another reason for other management to throw it up on the wall as another reason for treating their own employees poorly and scaring/threatening them to stay because they can say “I told you so!”.
most comments are directed at the new england
region….region 3 under the direction of greg
griswold…has been run into the ground also with the same tactics that have been described
above…griswold’s track record in previous jobs
is lacking in anything positive…region 3 is metro n.y…and new jersey
As an insider to this conversation, I would consider my life a failure if people described me as you have these players. The money isn’t worth it.
Wondering what people have to say these days? Any thing? I would love to hear some “chatter”
if I would have known better I would have stayed with sonepar. Left and got screwed like the rest! And bob radsmidt or whatever is a asshole for sure!
I worked at Electrical Wholesalers back in 2003 as a counter guy before the USESI takeover and it was bad then, I can only wonder what it’s like now to work for them. Anyway, 10 years later and I’m now a licensed contractor and I can say that EW is absolutely one of the worst supply houses in existence in New England. They screw up orders, they came to town with low prices but jacked them up over time, useless salespeople, and on and on. I don’t know how they survive.
This guy has no idea what hes talking about. I have dealt with this company for over 15 years and have never had major issues. The staff has always been very helpful, and do everything they can to make sure I get my material. I’ve also referred family members to work there, some of which are still there and don’t plan on leaving any time soon. Sounds to me like an over zealous jacka$$ who most likely had a personal issue with an employee and takes it out on everyone around.
what is happening with Carl these days?
I heard he’s is now one of the BIG WIGS at Interstate Electric in Billerica,ma
worthy’s non compete was up in October 2012. Did he retire?
Carl Brand is At Interstate now and is ruining everything here now.
Hahaha retire. He’s back…. Round 3, ding ding…..
who’s worthy in the ring with now?
To the folks who are working at Leff Electric in OH ( @leffelectric ) a word of advice… Run away as fast as you can. you don’t know what’s about to hit you.
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