Power Distribution, Automation and Renewables Technologies

Featured Article

Industry Recruiters – Return on Investment


You have an urgent hiring need. One of your top performers left unexpectedly, or you need to replace an under-performing team member. In either case, you realize the role needs to be filled in a timely manner and with a stronger candidate that can solve the challenges the predecessor faced to further grow your business.


The value of working with Egret Consulting?

You clearly acknowledge the value in working with a professional recruiter that specializes in your industry. In the case of Egret Consulting; the electrical industry. You realize that nobody knows your marketplace better than Egret. You recognize that we identify who your competitors are, understand your go to market strategy, know the technologies involved in your products and can effectively identify, attract, and land the candidates that are both a professional and cultural fit for your organization. Easy, peasy, right?


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Announcement!

Egret Consulting is celebrating 25th Anniversary in 2024!


Egret, Inc. was founded by Ted Konnerth and incorporated on November 2, 1999. Ted leveraged his experience in the lighting industry as an independent rep and then VP of Sales at Cooper Lighting to launch Egret. Ted purchased a franchise from Management Recruiter’s Inc. (MRI) and opened Egret’s office doors November 15, 1999. Egret began specializing in Lighting manufacturers and then started serving Electrical Distributors. Egret was awarded the Rookie of the Year office from MRI in 2000 and won multiple additional awards through 2003.

 

The business name was changed to Egret Consulting Group in 2002 and left MRI in 2004. Egret rapidly grew to become the largest and most successful search firm in the electrical industry.

 

Ted Konnerth retired from Egret Consulting in 2019. Egret was purchased that year by Brooke Ziolo. Egret has thrived under Brooke’s leadership and continues to grow at an exceptional pace. Egret has expanded over our first quarter century to focus on virtually every vertical in the electrical industry.

 

Egret Consulting currently focuses on Lighting Manufacturers, Lighting Rep Agencies, Lighting Design, AE & MEP Firms, ESCO’s and Contractors, Electrical Distributors, Wire and Cable Manufacturers, Tool Manufacturers, Power Distribution Manufacturers & Rep Agencies, Industrial Automation, Building Automation, Renewable Energy Technologies, Utilities, Cybersecurity, Software Programming, and IT.

 

Egret Consulting’s value proposition throughout our 25-year history has always been our unmatched market expertise and absolute honesty and ethics. Egret values the relationships that we’ve built over our first quarter century with our exceptional client partners and the outstanding industry talent that we have the privilege of speaking to every day. Egret was founded on the famous phrase “Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

 

We are grateful to have served the electrical industry for the past 25 years and look forward to our next 25 and beyond!

NAED Recap

NAED National Meeting in Austin, TX 


I attended the NAED National Meeting in Austin, TX with my colleagues Brooke Ziolo and Pati Kelly. It was great to meet in person with our distributor and manufacturing client partners and establish new connections and contacts. In total, there were 190 distributors from 54 companies, 290 manufacturers from 74 companies, and 63 service providers, including four M&A companies. We heard from some that they experienced a challenging Q1, but expected improvement in Q2 and beyond. We again heard of the need for strengthening relationships between distributors and manufacturers and that distributors openly welcome a higher level of support and product training. The need to upskill talent to have a much more technical focus in paramount. Delivery time on power distribution products remains a pain point, but introductions were made between distributors and ETO manufacturers that can offer much better delivery times and would not jeopardize existing relationships. Consolidation was a concern for some manufacturers as was the topic of margins. AI remained a “buzzword” and conversations centered around the integration of AI to help with streamlining the quotations process for efficiency improvements. Automating warehouse operations was also a topic of discussion. The big news at NAED was the announcement of the collaboration agreement between NAED, NEMA, NEMRA and NECA called Project Spotlight. Focus will be lobbying, recruitment, data quality and grid expansion. Wes Smith shared his vision for workforce development, digital advancements, electrification, and advocacy. In all, meetings were extremely productive and I’m excited for a very strong second half of 2024 with momentum carrying to 2025. 

 

Personal note - Robroy Industries hosted an amazing “Leading the Way” gourmet dinner reception. I was able to meet 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, 2X Super Bowl Champion Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys, and NCAA National Championship Head Coach with the University of Miami - Jimmy Johnson, which was truly an honor for me.

Words to Inspire

Industry Jobs

Rob


Western Regional Sales Manager – CA – 5066


Business Development Manager – Power Distribution Products – Remote – 5169


Civil-Structural Engineer (Transmission Line / Substation Structures) – AL – 5172


EHS Manager (Safety / Training) – Alabama – 5195


Quality, Health & Safety, and Environmental (QHSE) Mgr – Tucson, AZ area – 5212


Area Sales Manager – Atlanta, GA – 5215


ADMS Sales – NY / NJ – 5216

Colin


Outside Sales – CO - 5036


Switchgear/Transformers Quotations – Tampa, FL – 5146


Gear Quotations – MD or VA – 5191


Sales Director – Mid-Atlantic Region – 5214

VIEW MORE JOBS

Industry News

IONNA Selects Durham, North Carolina as Headquarters and Announces New Executive Leadership Team: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ionna-selects-durham-north-carolina-as-headquarters-and-announces-new-executive-leadership-team-302168896.html?sp_sn

 

The Electrical Market's Largest Distributors: https://www.ewweb.com/data-training/top-150/article/55055225/the-electrical-markets-largest-distributors

 

AI, data center electricity demand could drive advanced nuclear investment: NERC head Jim Robb: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ai-data-center-electricity-demand-advanced-nuclear-investment-Robb/718181/

 

AD, IMARK Electrical Announce Intent to Merge: https://tedmag.com/ad-imark-electrical-announce-intent-to-merge/

 

US clean energy investment reaches record quarterly high of $71B: report: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/clean-energy-investment-record-quarter-high-rhodium/717751/

 

Net Energy Metering Changes Could Aid the Microgrid Industry, but Some Argue for a Better Way to Encourage DER Deployment: https://www.microgridknowledge.com/distributed-energy/article/55055621/net-energy-metering-changes-could-aid-the-microgrid-industry-but-some-argue-for-a-better-way-to-encourage-der-deployment

 

MDM’s May M&A Recap: New Recent High for Distributor Deal Activity: https://www.mdm.com/article/operations/mergers-acquisitions/mdms-may-ma-recap-new-recent-high-for-distributor-deal-activity/?MailingID=%EF%BF%BDMPAIGNID%

 

White House launches federal-state initiative for grid upgrades with 21 states:

https://www.power-grid.com/policy-regulation/white-house-launches-federal-state-initiative-for-grid-upgrades-with-21-states/

 

NIST’s NCCoE focuses on OT remote access in water and wastewater sector cybersecurity architectures: https://industrialcyber.co/nist/nists-nccoe-focuses-on-ot-remote-access-in-water-and-wastewater-sector-cybersecurity-architectures/


Building controls market showing significant growth in 2024: https://smartbuildingsmagazine.com/news/building-controls-market-showing-significant-growth-in-2024

 

New Automation Open Standard Emerges: https://www.automationworld.com/communication/news/55056002/new-automation-open-standard-emerges

Rob Wieska

Executive Recruiter / Senior Partner
Rob’s expertise at Egret Consulting is Power Distribution (hardware products plus associated controls and software), Automation Technologies (including generation products, smart grid, building automation and controls manufacturers) and Renewables (including wind, solar, battery / energy storage, EV charging, Microgrid applications) and other emerging technologies.

847.307.7129
rw@egretconsulting.com

Colin Wieska

Executive Recruiter

Colin focuses on Cybersecurity, Embedded Software, Controls, and IoT / IIoT Technologies. His educational background had an emphasis on
cybersecurity, programming, data science, data structures, and statistics. This allows Colin to have a technical understanding of providing talent acquisition solutions while understanding the applications needed for success.

847-327-0018
cw@egretconsulting.com

Positions We Place

Applications Engineer
Business Development Manager
CEO
CISO
COO
CRO
CTO
Controls Engineer
Design Engineer
Director of Electrical Engineering
Director of Marketing
Director of Operations
Director of Sales
Director of Supply Chain
Distribution Automation BDM
Electrical Engineer
Electrical Engineering Manager
Embedded Software Engineer
General Manager
Head of Infrastructure
Inside Sales
Inside Sales Manager
International Sales Manager
IT (all functions)
Marketing Manager
Mechanical Engineer
National Sales Manager


OEM Sales Manager
Operations
Operations Manager
Outside Sales
Plant Manager
Pricing Manager
Process Engineer
Product Development Engineer
Product Manager
Production Manager
Project Engineer
Project Manager
Network Engineer
Quotations
Quotations Manager
Regional Sales Manager
Regional VP
Sales Engineer / Sr. Sales Engineer
Sales Manager
Software Engineer
Sr. Supply Quality Engineer
Territory Sales Manager
VP of Engineering
VP of Marketing
VP of Global Sales
VP of Operations
VP of Sales
VP of Technology