Tolley to Lead Current Lighting

According to a press release from Current Lighting, “Current™, a leading commercial and industrial (“C&I”) lighting and controls company, has appointed William (“Bill”) Tolley as its Interim CEO, effective today.  Departing CEO Manish Bhandari was instrumental in leading the company through the pandemic and a transformative acquisition of Hubbell’s C&I Lighting business.

Bill has served on Current’s Board of Directors for several years. He has decades of experience in the electrical and lighting industry as a long time senior executive of Hubbell, Inc,.  Bill will focus on implementing the company’s strategic and tactical agendas while identifying and onboarding a permanent CEO.”

Some background, according to his LinkedIn profile:

• Bill was with Hubbell for 14 years
• He has been a member of Current’s Board of Directors and part of AIP’s (American Industrial Partners, a private equity firm) team since 2019.
• He sits on 7 company boards

According to Current …

• “While business needs and personal choices are constantly evolving there are no other changes to the Executive team.
• The search for a new CEO is underway.
• Our 2023 plan is unchanged. The company’s mission is also unchanged – to serve our customers by creating and delivering the best lighting products in the world.”

Presumably Bill was selected by AIP as the interim CEO due to his experience in the electrical industry as well as exposure to the lighting industry from when HLI (the Hubbell Lighting division acquired by Current) was a division of Hubbell Lighting.

And, based upon feedback that we’ve received, there were a few other personnel changes over the past few weeks. Whether they were personal choice, and hence coincidental, part of a streamlining process, or for another reason is unknown. Some of the individuals were in “visible” roles for some distributors.

Being a $1+ billion plus company that a year ago went through a major acquisition, and being owned by private equity, rarely is the process “smooth” as the company prepares itself as it enters its next phase … first as billion company and secondly, in the “mid-phase” of private equity ownership cycle.

Good luck to Bill and the Current team.