PHOENIX, AZ – After 25 years of service, Allied Group Sales (AGS) reflects back on its humble beginnings. Founders Don Kaminski and Dave Mehrer purchased Allied Geis Sales, a local rep agency, on July 1, 1997 and renamed the company Allied Group Sales, Inc. and in doing so keeping the name AGS! With only nine employees they began serving the electrical market in Arizona and Las Vegas. Now, 25 years later as AGS celebrates this momentous anniversary, they have become one of the Southwest’s leading hybrid electrical and lighting agencies serving the Arizona, New Mexico, Las Vegas and El Paso markets.
Current President & CEO, Tim Klei, has been with AGS since August 31, 2015. He initially served as the Vice President of Sales, until becoming the sole owner on March 1, 2016. Klei leads the overall business and focuses his sales time on distribution and contractors.
“As I reflect back on what we have accomplished as a team over the past 25 years, I am proud of the consistent service and growth in our AGS team. I also highly value the many deep relationships we have built with our customers and manufacturer partners, many of which we call friends. For me, this milestone is more than a number; it’s about longstanding partnerships and having the opportunity to serve others. The number 25 reflects that our employees, customers and manufacturer partners believe that what we do here at AGS has great value. We have done our best to put others’ needs first and problem solve along the way. We have experienced continued growth and success and I want to thank each and every one who has made this journey possible. We would not be where we are without such a dynamic team of employees at AGS, industry leading manufacturer partners and faithful customers,” remarked Klei.
On January 1, 2017, Klei brought on partner Michael Knoblock, VP Sales Lighting & Controls, to further realize the agency’s full potential by investing in and expanding the lighting side of the business. AGS’s plan to expand its lighting business included adding numerous lighting lines as well as a number of talented people. At the completion of Knoblock’s first year, AGS accelerated the growth by acquiring another local lighting agency, Total Lighting & Control, on January 1, 2018. This added seven new employees and many top lighting manufacturers to AGS, immediately more than doubling the size of the agency’s lighting business. Today Knoblock continues to lead the lighting & controls business and focuses most of his sales time with distributors and contractors in Arizona.
Allied Group Sales plans to celebrate their milestone anniversary throughout 2022 in numerous ways, including hosting an open house for customers later in the year at their newly remodeled office and publicly recognizing loyal long-term employees in the Electric Times each month.
Allied Group Sales is an electrical and lighting manufacturer’s representative sales agency serving the Southwest for 25 years. With their corporate office and warehouse located in Phoenix Arizona, AGS also has resident sales offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Las Vegas, Nevada.
