Personal protective equipment, safety products and tool manufacturer SureWerx announced new Chief Executive Officer on May 23.

The Chicago-based company said it appointed Scott Dowell as its CEO, effective May 27. He will lead SureWerx’s global operations, reinforcing the company’s strategic vision and priorities whicle driving business performance and “a continued foruc on innovation, digitization and growth.”

Dowell succeeds Chris Baby, who is transitioning to an M&A and advisory support role after 15 years as the company’s top executive.

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Dowell joins SureWerx with over 25 years of experience from industrial distribution, including the past 18 at electrical supplies distributor Wesco, where he was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s U.S. Industrial Division since September 2020. SureWerx noted that unit delivered significantly above market, organic growth during his 4 years in that role. His Wesco experience spanned leadership roles in sales, operations, supply chain and global accounts. 

“I am thrilled and thankful to join SureWerx as CEO, and become part of an extraordinary team of people focused on delivering the ‘Power of One’ to our customers across the globe.” Dowell said in a news release. “I want to thank Chris Baby for his dedication and contributions to the business over his 15 years as CEO. I am excited to leverage my commercial and operational experience to lead the company into its next phase of growth. The global safety market is exploding, and we have a unique opportunity to leverage our best-in-class brands with our best-in-class channel partners to capitalize on significant organic growth opportunities for SureWerx.”

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Baby has been with SureWerx since 2009. In his CEO tenure, he oversaw 17 acquisitions and ultimately increased the size of the business tenfold, including significant growth and expansion in North America and into Europe.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have led SureWerx for over 15 years and to have been a part of the incredible growth, which would not have been possible without the talented and dedicated team at our company,” Baby added. “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together and even more excited about what the future holds for SureWerx. I look forward to supporting Scott as he takes over as CEO and continues to accelerate our growth and expand globally.”

Most recently, Chicago-based SureWerx acquired Reliance Fall Protection in March of this year.