April 12, 2023
Chicago Exit: Force Partners to Close Agency
Cooper Lighting partnership and KSA lawsuit mark a wild 6-year ride in the Chicago lighting market
Chicago lighting agent Force Partners is winding down its business and exiting the market.
Force Partners, whose name is derived from the "arranged marriage" of principals Peter Kokuzian and Brian Dauskurdas when it was founded in late 2016 to become a startup Cooper Lighting agent, has stated that the agency is winding down and will support all current contractual obligations, maintain timely communication with partners, and prioritize the well-being and support of Force Partners employees throughout the process.
Force Partners has been in the middle of some compelling lighting industry business happenings in recent years:
-
In late 2019, Chicago lighting agent Force Partners filed a remarkable lawsuit against rivals KSA Lighting & Controls, Acuity Brands, Jim Williams and Ashley Williams alleging a conspiracy among the defendants that forced Chicago-area lighting and controls distributors to boycott Force Partners.
-
In November 2022, weeks before the sales representative agreement with Cooper Lighting was about to expire, the two parties announced that they jointly decided to move in different directions.
-
The KSA/Acuity lawsuit led to a December 2022 settlement. Details remain confidential.
At the time of the “jointly decided” Cooper Lighting split, Force Partners stated that "both companies will be announcing their future plans in the coming days and weeks." Cooper Lighting’s December announcemet created a stir when Ashley Williams, departed KSA to become the sole principal of startup Cooper Lighting agent, The Lighting Digest. The future plans announcement from Force Partners never really materialized, as the agency seemed to face challenges reinventing itself post-Cooper.
In our November article recapping the events, we stated “We have no inside information, but we believe that the decision to not renew was initiated by Cooper and will cause Cooper to announce something that will show more advance planning and complex moving parts than whatever announcements Force Partners will share next week.”
Related: Chicago Lighting Agent Directory »
In December, the Westmont, Illinois office location address quietly vanished from the Force Partners website, leaving just the Chicago address. On January 13, Force Partners sent a memo to business partners indicating changes that the agency is making as it transitions from the Cooper Lighting agent to an independent agent. Force indicated that it has made personnel changes by “assisting with the transition of several inside team members to new positions in the industry.” The Force Partners website had cited 33 team members and was cut to 17.
As the Cooper Lighting lines were removed from the Force Partners line card, the agency pushed to rebuild its line card landing eleven new lines since January 1, including LSI Industries. But with all of the pluses and minuses and a staff that is half what it used to be, the agent has decided to pull the plug on the nearly six-and-a-half year roller coaster ride.
TERMINATIONS SINCE DEC 31
- Atlantic Lighting
- Boca Flasher
- Cooper Lighting
- Crenshaw Lighting
- Lumenwerx
- Pure Light
- Startek Lighting America
- TCP
NEW PARTNERS SINCE DEC 31
- AEC Illumination
- Allure Illumination
- Avi-on
- DLS
- LSI Industries
- McWong
- Nicor Lighting
- RBW
- Sirius Lighting US
- SWF Contract
- TCP
TCP signed as a new partner in January, and now the agreement is reportedly terminated.
The Force Partners line card saw a big bump in its early years when they joined forces with longtime Chicago architectural lighting agent Morr-Sharp Associates. The departure from Cooper Lighting seemed to have a similarly weighted, but negative drag on the agency’s offering.
Many of the Force Partners lines that still remain on Force Partners line card will inevitably be chased by The Lighting Digest, who is enthusiastically building its line card and recruiting new manufacturer partners. They will have to compete with other Chicagoland agents who see value in certain brands. We reached out to Lumenwerx on Tuesday who confirmed that they have inked a representation agreement with growing lighting agent, Chicago Lightworks.
We’ve been communicating with Force Partners principals on this topic since Tuesday and chose to refrain from reporting the Chicago hearsay until the agency was able to have the difficult conversations with their employees and business partners.
Today, Force Partners Principal, Brian Dauskurdas, shared the following statement:
After 6 and a half years of successful business operations, Force Partners made the decision to embark on a strategic wind-down process to ensure a smooth transition for employees, customers, and business partners.
The plan includes a focus on supporting all current contractual obligations, timely communication with partners, and prioritizing the well-being and support of employees throughout the process.
The entire team at Force would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to all its employees, customers and business partners for their unwavering support and contributions over the years. The company remains committed to upholding its core values of integrity, professionalism, collaboration, and providing the highest level of customer service throughout this process.
