FARGO, ND – Border States rolled out a new operating model on Monday, April 1, along with several changes to company leadership.
Border States’ new operating model places greater emphasis on providing a customer-centric, streamlined experience at branches across the country, and aligns with the company’s commitment to supporting their customers’ unstoppable businesses.
“The initial feedback from both customers and vendor partners has been very positive,” said Jason Seger, President and CEO at Border States. “Our customers are relying on us more and more to help them solve their complex problems. With Border States’ continued growth as a nationwide electrical distributor and the evolution of the industry as a whole, we see this new model as being key for supporting a unified experience for our customers and manufacturer partners. It will also allow us to be more agile and to better leverage the strength and capabilities of our branches and teams across the country.”
The new model focuses on two key areas of Border States’ business – growing and fulfilling customer relationships – and with this shift, leadership at Border States also realigned to best support the needs of customers, vendors and employee-owners.
A key strategy to support the new operating model is the implementation of distribution centers to enhance Border States’ network of +130 locations. Branches and distribution centers will work together to scale for optimization, while still allowing for customization and delivering cost effective and unique experiences for customers. Border States will be adding multiple distribution centers to their supply network over the next several years with the first distribution center planned for early 2026. Distribution centers will be focused on optimizing total supply chain costs (facilities, transportation, inventory), while improving service to customers by providing greater access to inventory.
Leadership changes took effect Monday, April 1, along with Jason Seger stepping into the role of President and CEO following the retirement of David White, former CEO.
Border States company leadership as of April 1, 2024:
Jason Seger — President and CEO.
People and Technology – Kelly Dawson — Vice President HR, Employee Relations and Total Rewards and Jason Stein — Chief Information Officer.
Finance, Legal and Compliance – Jeremy Welsand — Chief Financial Officer and Nick Vaughn — Vice President, General Counsel.
Supply Chain: James Sipe — Executive Vice President – Supply Chain; Shane McMenamy — Vice President, Distribution; Zack Kincaid — Vice President, Distribution; Wiley Taylor — Vice President, Distribution; Tony Serati — Vice President, Supply Chain Strategy and Optimization; Richelle Bishoff — Vice President, Procurement.
Demand Generation: Don Masters — Executive Vice President – Sales and Marketing; Megan Friedrich — Vice President, Revenue Operations; Geoff Murphy — Vice President, Vendor Relations; Matt Eddleman — Executive Vice President, Construction; Steve Freiburger — Senior Vice President, Industrial; Jeff Stauffer — Senior Vice President, Utility; Ryan Evans — Vice President, Construction Solutions; Shane Kerska — Vice President, Industrial Solutions; Patrick Novak — Vice President, Utility Sales Leaders.
Border States supplies products and services to construction, industrial and utility customers. The 100% employee-owned company is rated the sixth largest electrical distributor in the United States by Electrical Wholesaling magazine. Border States has more than 3,500 employee-owners in 31 states. The Branch Support Center (corporate office) is located in Fargo, North Dakota.
