January 30, 2025   

Kelvix Appoints Rick Earlywine as CEO

2025 01 Rick Earlywine Kelvix Lighting CEO Acuity Brands.jpg

Former Acuity Brands executive brings decades of experience to Oregon-based LED firm

 

Kelvix has appointed well-known industry veteran, Rick Earlywine, as its new Chief Executive Officer.  Effective immediately, Kelvix’s interim CEO, John Mabbott, will transition to the Kelvix Board of Directors.

The move follows Earlywine’s recent retirement from Acuity Brands, where he spent over four decades helping shape North America’s largest lighting company. His transition to Kelvix highlights the growing investment of the Oregon-based LED lighting provider and signals potential new opportunities for the brand under his leadership.

 

A Notable Career at Acuity Brands

Earlywine’s career at Acuity Brands spanned 41 years, an increasingly rare tenure in any industry. A graduate of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, one of the nation’s premier engineering schools, he started at Lithonia Lighting, which later morphed into Acuity Brands. Over the years, he took on roles of increasing responsibility in engineering, product development, and pricing before moving into senior management for the last 15+ years of his tenure.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW




In December 2024, Earlywine announced on LinkedIn his departure from Acuity Brands, hinting at a “new chapter” rather than a retirement focused on travel and golf. "After 41 years with Acuity Brands Lighting, I am moving on to a new chapter at the end of the year," Earlywine stated. "It has been an enjoyable ride working with the best people in the lighting industry. The company should be proud of all it has accomplished over the years, and I’m so excited to see what it continues to accomplish as the industry’s leading lighting and controls company going forward!"

His social media post received hundreds of reactions and comments – a rarity for lighting people on LinkedIn.

 

Navigating the Transition

Industry veterans familiar with Acuity’s corporate operations know that the company has historically built substantial wealth for management employees through stock incentive compensation plans. These financial agreements are often tied to restrictive agreements, including non-compete and non-solicitation clauses.

We have no confirmed information regarding any such restrictions for Earlywine, but given his business acumen, it is unlikely he moved to Kelvix without considering such factors or consulting Acuity Brands before accepting the CEO role. Kelvix’s product portfolio, which includes LED strip lighting, tape light, flexible neon, flexible sheets, and channels, seems to have very little overlap with Acuity’s core offerings, possibly mitigating any competitive concerns.

 

Private Equity Owned: Core Industrial Partners

Kelvix operates independently under the ownership of Chicago-based private equity firm Core Industrial Partners. Core made headlines in 2024 for its abrupt shutdown of Texas-based Saylite and related brands, raising concerns about its intentions with other lighting companies in its portfolio. However, Kelvix has remained autonomous from Saylite and continues to function autonomously like other Core-owned brands, such as Rhode Island-based Vantage Lighting.

Vantage Lighting made a notable leadership move last year by appointing Sero Cardamone, a well-known Acuity Brands veteran, as CEO. With both Cardamone and Earlywine now leading Core-affiliated lighting companies — alongside Kelvix Board of Directors engagement with fellow Acuity alumnus John Mabbott — this pattern suggests a broader strategy of recruiting seasoned executives with Acuity Brands pedigrees.

 

A Top Free-Agent Signing?

A die-hard Green Bay Packers fan, Rick Earlywine knows a thing or two about long, successful runs with one team. Like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers leaving the Packers after long, successful, championship runs, he’s embarking on a new journey after an extraordinary tenure with a single organization. But while those quarterbacks struggled to find their footing with the New York Jets, Earlywine has landed in a place where his leadership and experience may be primed to shine — it’s possible that Kelvix just made the free-agent signing of the year.

The “new chapter” of Earlywine’s career is officially underway, and the industry will be watching closely to see how his leadership shapes Kelvix’s trajectory in the years to come.

 

 

 




OTHER NEWS

Company


About Inside Lighting

Contact Us