March 31, 2025
Current’s Michigan Moves Trigger Market Realignment
Current goes all-in with Wizard Lighting. Chain reaction reshapes local lighting markets.
For decades, Michigan’s lighting rep landscape has been defined by several stable lighting agents and long-standing brand affiliations. But that balance is shifting. Current has cut ties with its longtime rep partners, awarding its HLI and GLI product lines to Wizard Lighting Company, effective June 1, 2025.
The move sets off a chain reaction. Wizard Lighting, an agency barely four years old, will drop Signify’s Genlyte Solutions after exactly three years to take on Current’s portfolio. Meanwhile, MLS (Michigan Lighting Systems) finds itself unexpectedly sidelined from a major at the moment while EMI (Electrical Materials Inc.) loses another major brand in the last 60 days.
THE CHAIN REACTIONS
- Wizard Lighting named Michigan rep for Current's HLI & GLI brands, replacing MLS (HLI) and EMI (GLI).
- MLS loses a major anchor line and may pursue Genlyte Solutions, which is now leaving Wizard.
- EMI takes a second setback, having recently lost Wattstopper before now losing Current GLI.
- Lighting Dynamics expands from Cleveland and Columbus into Toledo to take over Current HLI, previously repped there by MLS.
- Myriad remains the Current GLI rep in Toledo.
It’s a reshuffling with consequences for agencies, manufacturers, and the broader markets across Michigan and Northwest Ohio.
Wizard Lighting: The Four-Year Rise
Wizard Lighting was founded in 2021 by Bryan Wisniewski, a former GE Area Sales Manager who once crisscrossed Michigan selling GE commercial lamps and Albeo high bays — two key pieces of the Current GLI portfolio. After a stretch with Gasser Bush, the state’s dominant Acuity rep, he struck out on his own, launching Wizard in the Grand Rapids market rather than Detroit — a strategic move to wait out a Gasser Bush non-compete agreement.
His major break came in 2022 when Signify tapped Wizard to represent Genlyte Solutions across the state. That move was timed with Wizard's expansion into Metro Detroit, and for exactly three years to the day — June 1, 2022, to June 1, 2025 — Wizard has been Genlyte’s rep in Michigan.
Now, with Wizard set to take on Current’s HLI and GLI brands, Wisniewski sees the move as something more than just a business shift. “It’s a full-circle moment,” he said, reflecting on his early years selling GE products in the territory.
EMI and MLS: Two Recalibrating Agencies
For EMI (Electrical Materials Inc.), losing Current’s GLI brands is another setback in a rough stretch.
The agency, best known for its decades-long Lutron representation, recently lost Legrand’s Wattstopper line to MLS (Michigan Lighting Solutions). Now, with Current moving GLI to Wizard, EMI has seen two of its cornerstone lighting & controls brands walk out the door in just a few months.
MLS, meanwhile, is also in flux. After taking Wattstopper from EMI, they were still representing Current’s HLI brands — until now. Losing Current leaves a major gap in their portfolio, and it raises an obvious question: What’s next?
Who Gets Genlyte?
With Wizard moving on from Genlyte, Signify needs a new Michigan rep.
Two agencies stand out as potential contenders:
- MLS – Given their sudden loss of Current, they’re the most obvious option. (DraftKings odds 1:20)
- Pro-Tech Lighting – A possibility, but Signify previously left Pro-Tech in 2022 to go with Wizard. Would they double back? (DraftKings odds 30:1)
- Rest of Field: Local agent base or new startup/expansion including New York based Lightspec. (DraftKings odds 25:1)
Meanwhile, two of the larger Detroit reps seem well entrenched with their main partners — Gasser Bush with Acuity and Clarus Lighting & Controls with Cooper Lighting Solutions — making them unlikely to enter the Genlyte sweepstakes.
What about Toledo?
Since its inception, Wizard has opted not to cover Toledo, Ohio, even though many Detroit reps extend into the market just 60 miles away.
With MLS out, Lighting Dynamics is stepping in to take on Current’s HLI brands in Toledo. A longtime Current partner, the Cleveland-based agency has been steadily expanding—stretching from Cleveland to Columbus, and now pushing further west into the 419.
As for GLI, that remains unchanged with Myriad continuing its representation there.
The Takeaway: A Market in Motion
Wizard is rising. EMI and MLS are recalibrating. Lighting Dynamics is expanding. Current is shifting its bets.
What’s happening in Michigan isn’t just about one manufacturer moving its lines — it’s about the rapid realignment of power among rep agencies. Wizard has leveraged its short-but-calculated history to take a clear step forward. Meanwhile, EMI and MLS are working to retool their lineups.
