September 16, 2025
SESCO Expands Again with Smith OKC Acquisition
Signify’s Genlyte Solutions now leans mainly on just three major agents in the Central U.S.
It has been a restless year for SESCO Lighting. Florida-based, employee-owned and already one of the nation’s largest independent manufacturers’ reps, the firm has spent 2025 moving pieces across the agent territory chessboard in a way that is reshaping the competitive map of Southern U.S. lighting markets.
First came San Antonio and Austin in mid-May, via the acquisition of Engineered Representation Technologies (ERT). By the end of May, SESCO had struck again, picking up NexGen Lighting Solutions in Dallas. Now, in its third major move of the year, SESCO will soon acquire Oklahoma City–based Smith Lighting Sales. With the deal, announced today, the company secures not just a new market but a critical puzzle piece — a foothold in Oklahoma that ties seamlessly into its growing Texas network and nestles next to its Arkansas presence established back in 2023.
An Established Oklahoma Player
Smith Lighting Sales is no upstart. Founded in 1969 by Bob Smith, the agency has been a mainstay in Oklahoma for over five decades, representing top lighting and controls lines from offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Eric Stewart, who joined in 1999 and has led the business in recent years, will stay on board with the new ownership. Stewart emphasized continuity in his announcement, citing the company’s “very best for our clients” ethos and noting how naturally that aligns with SESCO’s “customer first” mantra.
For SESCO, the move folds Smith’s long-standing relationships and local credibility into its expanding platform of 570 employees and 31 offices. CEO John Palk made a point of the cultural overlap, recalling that SESCO and Smith founders once sat together on agent councils nearly 50 years ago. “The dedication to the Oklahoma market and their clients through these changes confirmed to me that Eric and the team at Smith Lighting would be a great fit,” he said.
A Busy Year on the Road to Oklahoma
The Oklahoma expansion is the another milestone in a year that saw SESCO transform from a powerhouse in the Southeast into a multi-region player spanning the I-35 corridor in the South Central U.S. San Antonio and Austin provided the Texas entry. Dallas — via NexGen — gave the company scale in North Texas. Now, just a few hours up the interstate, Oklahoma links the Texas presence and pushes the map farther north and west.
The result: a footprint stretching from Miami to North Carolina to Oklahoma City — with much of North and Central Texas in the mix. Few independent rep firms in North America can point to that kind of reach.
The Genlyte Subplot: Fewer, Bigger Agents
SESCO’s expansion also highlights a broader trend inside Signify’s Genlyte Solutions business unit. Across the central and southeastern U.S., Genlyte has streamlined its partnerships to mainly a handful of large, multi-state agencies: SESCO, LightSpec, and Chicago Lightworks.
Each has been busy. LightSpec has surged westward from its base in upstate New York through Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and into Michigan. Lightworks jumped into Indiana earlier this year. And now SESCO, already Genlyte’s largest agent, adds Oklahoma to its bulging map. Together, the three create a streamlined, concentrated channel for one of the industry’s biggest manufacturers.
A Crowded Oklahoma City Stage
SESCO’s arrival in Oklahoma City adds new weight to a competitive stage already hosting some of the region’s most established reps. Triple C Lighting & Controls, Bell & McCoy, Premier Lighting Sales, Smith Lighting (now part of SESCO), and Hossley Lighting & Power Solutions all maintain strong positions in the market. Plus, months ago, a new agent has started up; United Lighting Alliance (ULA).
Notably, SESCO now joins Bell & McCoy and Hossley as firms that straddle both Oklahoma and Texas. That overlap matters: architects, engineers, and contractors working projects along the I-35 corridor — from Dallas north into Oklahoma — may increasingly find continuity across rep territories. For major distributors like Locke Supply and Elliott Electric, which maintain deep footprints in both states, that continuity can also streamline buying decisions. The interstate itself becomes a business artery, channeling not just people and products but influence.
While Oklahoma may not rank among the nation’s largest lighting markets, it’s roughly on par with the combined footprint of northern New England — the trio of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The difference? Where New England disperses its volume across a patchwork of small cities and subregions, Oklahoma condenses most of its lighting project business into just two metros: Oklahoma City and Tulsa. That density makes for a far more efficient agency model — one where a rep firm can credibly cover the majority of the state’s commercial lighting demand without the fragmentation that plagues more decentralized markets.
The Bigger Picture
SESCO’s move is not only about Oklahoma; it is about scale. In just over two years, the company has transformed from a Southeastern leader to a national heavyweight. Expansion into Louisiana and Arkansas in 2023, Texas in two steps earlier this year, and now Oklahoma represents an aggressive string of acquisitions rarely matched in the independent rep world.
For Genlyte Solutions, the consolidation simplifies its channel. For competitors, it signals the arrival of a formidable rival in a state already brimming with competition. And for Oklahoma’s specifiers and distributors, it means more resources, more reach, and a larger corporate engine powering a local team.
As Eric Stewart and his colleagues fold into the SESCO family on January 1, 2026, the Oklahoma market will gain not just continuity but connection — to a network that now spans much of the American South and continues to grow.
