William Tolley has been named Interim CEO of Current™, effective immediately. Tolley, who has decades of experience in the electrical and lighting industry and has served on Current’s Board of Directors for several years, will focus on implementing the company’s strategic and tactical agendas while also identifying and onboarding a permanent CEO.
Tolley replaces outgoing CEO Manish Bhandari, who joined Current, then known as GE Current, a Daintree Company, in December of 2019. Bhandari played a key role in guiding the company through the pandemic and overseeing its transformative acquisition of Hubbell’s C&I Lighting business.
Under Bhandari’s leadership, Current achieved a number of milestones, including the recruitment of Chip Taylor as Chief Commercial Officer in March 2020, the reorganization of the commercial sales organization in July 2020, and the acquisition of Forum Lighting in April 2021. In September 2020, Current launched its 365DisInFx™ technology, and in July 2021, Courtney Abraham was named Chief People Officer. In October 2021, the company announced its plan to acquire Hubbell C&I Lighting Business. In February 2022 in a video interview with me, Bhandari reconfirmed that HLI and Current would maintain separate sales networks.
While Bhandari leaves behind a strong legacy at Current, the search for a new permanent CEO is currently underway. Tamara Douce, Director of Enterprise Marketing & Communications, has assured that there are no other changes to the Executive team and that the company’s 2023 plan and mission remain unchanged – to provide the best lighting products in the world to its customers.
Below is my interview with Manish Bhandari, Tom Benton, and Chip Taylor where we discussed the integration of the C&I Lighting Business of Hubbell from February of 2022.