Lots going on in Chicagoland lately. Distributor acquisitions and lighting agency drama.
On the distributor side of the business there was
On the representation side, and more specifically, on the lighting agent side, last was, shall we say “eventful.”
Two major events
- One event is that the Force Partners / KSA Lighting & Controls saga was concluded through a settlement agreement between Force Partners and the various parties (KSA, Ashley Williams and Jim Williams.) The settlement is confidential, so … who knows? Hopefully it was financially beneficial for someone other than the lawyers and that business can go on. The initial lawsuit was in fall 2019. Inside.Inside.Lighting has an article on the conclusion and has been actively covering the lawsuit against KSA.
- And the major news was Cooper Lighting’s decision to support another start-up agency. Here’s a link to the letter. This time one that is …
- Cooper Lighting had been with Force Partners for the past 5 years, recently advised that they were terminating the relationship and were seeking a new agency.
- As a side note, given that Cooper has essentially “founded” two agencies says something about the number of agencies, or “qualified” agencies, in the marketplace. This is becoming a bigger issue for manufacturers … not enough viable independent representation in a market.
- The new agency is called “The Lighting Digest” (no website yet.)
- Cooper Lighting had been with Force Partners for the past 5 years, recently advised that they were terminating the relationship and were seeking a new agency.
The Lighting Digest is being founded by an ex-VP level manager of KSA, Ashley Williams, who was listed on the website on December 6th when Archive.org captured this iteration of the website. Presumably there was no non-compete agreement? Hopefully there was an NDA, but …
- Ms. Williams is the wife of KSA’s president, Jim Williams.
- She was the VP Distribution for KSA for 13 years (can anyone say “access to pricing, rebates, supplier business strategy with distributors?”)
- And while KSA is now an ESOP, the president (Jim) is still the husband of the competitor’s (new agency’s) founder / president (Ashley).
Makes sense? Might as well keep the Chicago lighting business “all in the family”. Perhaps the relationship will be like meetings were at NEMA years ago (may still be) where lawyers needed to be in meetings to make sure competitive information was not shared!
What happens when there is a City of Chicago project that needs to be bid? Who wins the deal this time?
It begs questions such as:
- Why did Cooper Lighting answer the phone when a competitive lighting agent’s wife calls to inquire about line availability and support for a start-up?
- What do distributors in their market think? According to one distributor, they were “dumbfounded”. Another commented about the ethics of it and wondered why Cooper would do this?
- What, if anything, do specifiers think? Can they be assured of competitive quotes? Can contractors be assured of competitive quotes?
- Assuming Cooper has a meeting of agents, can other agents speak freely in front of someone who has a direct link to an Acuity agency?
- While Force Partners and KSA settled, will Force lose personnel to Ashley Williams’ new business and hence “raid” the staff?
- If Cooper was willing to fund a start-up, couldn’t they have found someone else? Could they have funded a business for a Cooper Lighting person (wouldn’t be the first time a manufacturer did this?) Could they have encouraged a Cooper Lighting rep in a contiguous market to expand into the Chicagoland market? How about spending the money on a direct sales team?
- Should other lines that compete with KSA feel comfortable with giving representation to the new agency? After all, Ashley had access to competitor information that is available to distributors?
Or, perhaps it is as simple as “things are done differently in the Windy City?”
Hopefully Ashley is very personable and is able to recruit people, charm distributors to capture conversions (from KSA?) and entice contractors and lighting specifiers to support her.
Congratulations to Chicago for winning the “drama of the month” award and to Ashley on starting her business.
If you live anywhere other than Chicago you’re probably scratching your head and wondering.
2 Comments
The Chicago lighting market is safe as it’s all under one roof and controlled by the city of Atlanta.
What bout the trust set up by the Williams during court hearings , bought 7-10 properties worth millions through ksa , then he makes it an employee owned company, pays the settlement amount w company’s money , so their revenue will be minus 10 mil, ?
Buys out the competitors main supplier and starts a company under his wife’s name ,,
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