Acuity Brands Appoints Neil M. Ashe as Next President and Chief Executive Officer
January 08 2020 - 4:19PM
Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) (the “Company”) announced today
that Neil M. Ashe will become its next President and Chief
Executive Officer (“CEO”) effective January 31, 2020.
Additionally, the Board of Directors (“Board”) appointed Mr. Ashe
as a member of the Board effective January 31, 2020. Mr.
Ashe, 52, will take over the CEO position from Vernon J. Nagel, who
will remain with the Company in the newly created role of Executive
Chairman. Mr. Ashe will also become the President of Acuity
Brands replacing Richard K. Reece, who will become Executive Vice
President of the Company and President of Acuity Brands Lighting,
the primary operating subsidiary of the Company. The
appointment of Mr. Ashe as President and CEO of Acuity Brands
culminates an orderly succession plan for certain senior leadership
positions which began almost a year ago.
Mr. Nagel commented, “On behalf of the Board, we
are extremely excited to have attracted a leader with the skill and
experience of Neil to lead our great company in the next chapter of
its evolution. While our succession plan anticipated me as
CEO for a longer period, we accelerated our timetable to attract
Neil as our next leader. His background and success in
leading technology-oriented organizations is an ideal fit for
Acuity Brands as we continue our journey to be an industrial
technology leader. We have a tremendous company with great
associates and market-leading solutions with a very strong
financial profile that will provide Neil and the team the ability
to create strategies that I believe will meaningfully enhance value
for our key stakeholders. Neil brings a strong and successful
entrepreneurial background to Acuity, including President & CEO
of Global eCommerce & Technology at Walmart, Inc., President of
CBS Interactive and CEO of CNET Networks, Inc. In each of
these roles Neil and his teams created significant shareholder
value.”
Mr. Ashe commented, “I’m honored to be the next
CEO of Acuity Brands and I’m pleased to partner with and succeed
Vern. I’ve had the pleasure of leading transformations at
some of the most important internet, media and commerce
companies. What they all have in common is a commitment to
customers, an ability and willingness to innovate and change, and a
dynamic and talented group of associates who are passionate about
building great businesses.
Ashe continued, “Acuity Brands is a company with
a strong strategic, operating and financial foundation. I’m
excited to partner with the talented associates of Acuity to take
the Company forward and to build an even more exciting and dynamic
company on this foundation.”Mr. Nagel concluded, “It has been a
privilege and an honor for me to lead the great associates of
Acuity Brands for the last 15 years. We successfully
navigated one of the greatest technology transformations faced by
any industry with the advent of digital lighting, and over that
time period more than doubled our sales, tripled our operating
margins, became the clear industry leader, and saw an eight-fold
increase in shareholder value. Today our platform is strong,
and we see exciting new opportunities in the years to come.
With Neil’s leadership skills and background, Acuity Brands in
uniquely positioned to exploit these opportunities.”
About Acuity Brands
Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is the North
American market leader and one of the world’s leading providers of
lighting and building management solutions. With fiscal year 2019
net sales of $3.7 billion, Acuity Brands currently employs
approximately 12,000 associates and is headquartered in Atlanta,
Georgia with operations throughout North America, and in Europe and
Asia. The Company’s products and solutions are sold under various
brands, including Lithonia Lighting®, Holophane®, Aculux®,
A-Light™, American Electric Lighting®, Antique Street Lamps™,
Atrius®, Cyclone™, DGLogik™, Distech Controls®, DTL®, eldoLED®,
Eureka®, Gotham®, Healthcare Lighting®, Hydrel®, Indy™, IOTA®,
Juno®, Lucid®, Luminaire LED™, Luminis®, Mark Architectural
Lighting™, nLight®, Peerless®, RELOC® Wiring, ROAM®, Sensor
Switch®, Sunoptics® and Winona® Lighting. Visit us at
www.acuitybrands.com.
Forward Looking
Information
This release contains forward-looking
statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Statements that may be considered
forward-looking include statements incorporating terms such as
"expects," "believes," "intends," “estimates”, “forecasts,”
"anticipates," “will,” “may,” “should”, “suggests,” “remain,” and
similar terms that relate to future events, performance, or results
of the Company and specifically include statements made in this
press release regarding expectations of enhanced shareholder value,
future opportunities for Acuity Brands and Mr. Ashe’s leadership as
the Company’s new CEO. Forward-looking statements are subject
to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from the historical experience of Acuity
Brands and management's present expectations or projections. These
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, customer
and supplier relationships and prices; competition; ability to
realize anticipated benefits from initiatives taken and timing of
benefits; market demand; litigation and other contingent
liabilities; and economic, political, governmental, and
technological factors affecting the Company. Please see the
other risk factors more fully described in the Company’s SEC
filings including risks discussed in Part I, “Item 1a. Risk
Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended August 31, 2019. The discussion of those risks is
specifically incorporated herein by reference. Management
believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however,
undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking
statements, which are based on current expectations. Further,
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made,
and management undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of
them in light of new information or future events.
# # #
Company Contact:
Pete Shannin, 770.860.2873
pete.shannin@acuitybrands.com
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