Employees flee for online opportunities
By Industrial Distribution Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 2/1/2000
NEWTON, MASS.--Competition among rival distributors for employees has always been keen. That has only escalated with the tight job market experienced over the last couple of years. However, a new form of competition has arisen in the business-to-business dot-com firms that are forming quickly on the MRO distribution landscape. Nearly every new e-commerce firm has at least one former distribution executive among its ranks.Most recently, BuildPoint.com, a Silicon Valley-based e-commerce hub for the $415 billion construction materials industry, announced the appointment of former WESCO executive James Piraino as president and chief executive officer. A 15-year veteran of the construction materials industry, Piraino was selected by BuildPoint founders to accelerate BuildPoint's penetration of the construction bidding and procurement marketplace.
Prior to joining BuildPoint, Piraino served as the executive officer and vice president of marketing at WESCO International Inc. While at WESCO, Piraino led the global national accounts and major project construction divisions, and drove that company's efforts to develop an Internet-based e-commerce capability.
"To make BuildPoint the e-commerce hub where the construction industry does business, we needed a leader with a compelling vision of how to migrate the current business practices of the construction industry onto the Internet,'' said Dr. Florian Aalami, one of the firm's founders.
Despite the obvious attraction of being on the cutting edge of the future of distribution, many executives are being lured by stock options -- and the potential huge monetary payoffs that accompany them -- should the company make it big or do an initial public offering.
W.W. Grainger has been particularly hard hit by a defection of employees to electronic startups, perhaps because it is perceived as an early leader in electronic commerce among MRO distributors. Fritz Troller, Purchasing- Center.com's vice president of sales, was a former executive with Grainger's integrated supply division. And, SupplyFORCE.com. -- a division of Affiliated Distributors -- lured Greg Dehmke away from Grainger in January. He is serving as SupplyFORCE.com's vice president of sales, and previously served as vice president of national accounts at Grainger. Steve Cosgrove, SupplyFORCE's chief operating officer, was formerly president of Thrall Distribution and, previously, director of national accounts and business development for Grainger.
Until recently, Alan Raeburn, president of ARC Staffing, Inc., a placement firm within the MRO sector, hadn't seen a whole lot of defections to the e-commerce world. "Up until now I'd be lying if I said I've seen that as a trend, but maybe it's the next move; maybe it's happening now," he said. However, Raeburn notes there are some factors keeping employees within the bricks and mortar distribution segment, particularly job security, and the uncertainty of the dot-com world.
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