January 20, 2022
5 Things to Know: Week Ending January 21
Who was Signify's Rep of the Year?
Plus, a lighting controls story spreads across mainstream media, which led to EdisonReport completely plagiarizing the work of a Boston Globe writer.
Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed.
1. Azerbaijan President meets with Signify CEO, Eric Rondolat
This week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Eric Rondolat, CEO of Signify, briefed the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on the progress and prospects of the initiatives being carried out in Azerbaijan, notably in the liberated territories - cities of Shusha and Aghdam.
President Ilham Aliyev praised Signify's work in Azerbaijan, noting in particular that the lighting systems of more than eleven cities, including Baku, Sumgayit, and Gandja, have already been completed via smart projects and smart solutions. The head of state described this as one of Azerbaijan's significant green energy policy initiatives in recent years. It was highlighted that these new technologies would significantly reduce electricity use.
Rondolat stated that all of these cities would be administered from a central location by use of an intelligent system, with servers located in Azerbaijan. According to him, this will allow Azerbaijan to conserve greater energy.
2. ALR moves into The Beaver State
Oakland, California based lighting agent, ALR has long covered lighting markets in Northern California, Central California and Reno, Nevada. Recently, the agency expanded into the Oregon territory with some notable manufacturer-partners, highlighted by Lutron, Wattstopper and Kenall.
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Lutron was previously represented by Concordia Lighting & Controls.
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Wattstopper was previously represented by Northern Illumination Co.
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Kenall was previously represented by HL Stearns.
Oregon-based ALR employees include Jeremy Nelson, who focuses on Contractor/Distributor Sales and Chris O'Brien, who is responsible for Lighting Controls Sales. Below is ALR's current Oregon line card.
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DMF
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Elite LED Lighting
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Kenall
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KW Industries
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Lucifer Lighting
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Lutron
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Wattstopper
3. Diversified Gradually Establishes NYC Presence
Our exclusive July 2022 article reported that large Philadelphia and New Jersey lighting agent, Diversified, moved into New York Territory with the representation of Nora Lighting. Since then, the agent has added numerous lines including LSI Industries and Atlas Lighting.
With over two dozen lighting agents serving NYC and the market not being a “package market”, line cards in the territory are much shorter compared to agent line cards in other markets.
Diversified's NYC line card now cites nine brands:
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Assurance
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Atlas Lighting
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Canto
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Carl Stahl
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Chameleon
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LED Living
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The Light Source
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Nora Lighting
4. School Lighting Control System Makes National News
As of Friday 1pm EST press time, inside.lighting is the only lighting and electrical industry publication to report on the Massachusetts high school whose faulty lighting control system was recently featured in an NBC News investigative report. inside.lighting has been the only media site to report additional details relating to the manufacturer of the system.
UPDATE: January 21 — EdisonReport has now reported the news, but seemingly EdisonReport blatantly plagiarized its article by copying and pasting the entire 662-word article researched, written and published by Boston Globe writer, Ross Cristantiello without giving him or his publication any credit or attribution. It would be extremely unusual for any New York Times Company-owned publication to allow another publication to freely use its copyrighted work with or without attribution.
Numerous other mainstream publications have picked up NBC’s report and have reported it in multiple languages, too. Below is a sampling:
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This Mass. high school's lights have been stuck on for more than a year (boston.com)
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Lights at Massachusetts high school have been on 24/7 since August '21 (nypost.com)
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Why the lights at a Massachusetts high school can't be turned off : (NPR)
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Massachusetts Public School Wasting Taxpayer Dollars (businessinsider.com)
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Why Lights At MA School Have Been On For Over A Year (Patch)
5. Signify Names 2022 Rep of the Year
This week, U.S. principals of C&I lighting agents representing Signify convened in Austin, Texas this week for the annual Signify U.S. sales meeting. We were unable to confirm how much barbecue was consumed by the lighting executives or how many new, late-night tattoos were acquired on Sixth Street, but we did learn which agency won the coveted Rep of the Year award from Signify.
Congratulations to SESCO Lighting for being recognized as Signify’s 2022 Rep of the Year. SESCO Lighting represents Signify commercial/industrial lighting brands across numerous Southeast U.S. states.
SESCO Lighting CEO, John Palk shared, “SESCO Lighting is excited and honored to be selected as the 2022 Agent of the Year for Signify US. With so many great agencies in the Signify network and the growth we all have experienced; I want to celebrate and acknowledge our counterparts across the U.S. as well as the Signify leadership team. The positive momentum we all have experienced over the last three years is just the beginning.”
NOTE: This article was updated at 8:40am on January 21 to report that another industry publication has published news about the Massachusetts school lighting controls story.
