ATLANTA — Grove Mountain Partners announced Friday has appointed Ronald "Ron" J. LaBusch as chief executive officer of Hills Distribution, a premier wholesale distributor of plumbing and HVAC equipment.
LaBusch joins Hills Distribution from Novia Group, where he was president of distribution, prior to which he had a similar role at Reladyne. In both roles, LaBusch had direct financial and operating responsibility for integrating and optimizing numerous distribution acquisitions for these two private-equity backed companies. Previously, LaBusch served in a variety of senior executive roles at Nexio Solutions.
"We are delighted to have recruited an executive with such broad distribution and private equity background, who is so deeply experienced in building and integrating good companies and brands," said Stephen Fraser, chairman, Hills Distribution. "Our strategy is to acquire top quality companies and help them serve end-customers even better, while striving to make our distribution brands the employer of choice for associates in our markets. LaBusch is ideally suited to advance this goal."
"I'm thrilled to be able to bring all my experience and learnings to a team fully aligned with my values and those of the companies we are building. The wholesale plumbing and HVAC industry is the ultimate service community: everyday we get to serve our contractor clients as they solve their customers critical and immediate needs," said LaBusch.
Grove Mountain Partners also announced the formation of Hills Distribution, a parent company for investments in the wholesale plumbing and HVAC distribution marketplace in the Northeast. Hills Distribution's first transaction was the partnering with Plimpton and Hills Corporation, a company which has been serving the needs of plumbing and HVAV contractors for over a century.