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Who is Horizon Solutions?

Horizon Solutions LLC. was formed on May 1, 2000 through the merger of Holmes of Portland, ME, Oakes Electric of Holyoke, MA, and RERO Distribution of Rochester, NY. This merger combined the strength of three leading Electrical/Industrial distributors with a history that dates back to before the Civil War.

Dick Wilson, Jim Newton, Peter Roby, & Bert Andrews

All three founding companies had deeply ingrained cultures of meeting and adapting to the needs of their local markets. These companies had survived through economic cycles and years of war. They thrived on technology changes and market transformations. By the end of the 1990's it had become clear to the owners of Holmes, Oakes and RERO that if they were to continue to meet the needs of their respective customers and suppliers a new transformation was needed. Bert Andrews of Holmes, together with Jim Newton of Oakes, Dick Wilson and Peter Roby of RERO arranged for the merger of their three companies; The result was the creation of Horizon Solutions LLC.

At our core, Horizon remains a family-owned business serving our local markets as we always have - with knowledge, experience and quality products. With over 250 employees and 9 branches Horizon offers the service of your hometown distributor, with the strength and resources of a much larger company.

Dick, Newt, Bert & Peter

A bit about us . . .

ReQua Picnic at Grand View Beach 1926
A real racous bunch!

The founding companies of Horizon Solutions (Holmes, Oakes & RERO) were leaders in their respective local markets because they were, among other things, just that "local". They worked at listening to their customers and to their employees. From its creation Horizon has been dedicated to maintaining that closeness. As a result, Horizon's corporate structure can best be described as "distributed". This approach does have one major advantage it keeps us close to those that matter the most: customers and employees.

Jim Newton - President / CEO, works out of our Portland, ME branch

Mike Herrmann - CFO / COO, works out of our Rochester, NY branch

Karen Baker - Senior VP of Branch Operations, works out of our Elmira, NY branch

Don Harrington - Senior VP of IS and Inventory Management, works out of our Portland, ME branch

Kathy Biesecker - Senior VP of HR, works out of our Rochester, NY branch

John Salvadore - Senior VP of Electrical Sales, works out of our Holyoke, MA branch

Chuck Boyle - VP of Marketing, works out of our Holyoke, MA branch