Electrical supplies distribution giant Sonepar announced Nov. 23 that François Anquetil, the President of Sonepar Canada, will retire at the end of March 2024 after a 36-year career with the company.

Anquetil will transition his responsibilities to incoming President George McClean.

During his career at Sonepar, Anquetil has served as President of Lumen, VP of Vendor Relations and CFO for Sonepar Canada. He was also president of two divisions at Sonepar France — CCE and Franco Belge (Sonepar’s very first acquisition). 

Sonepar detailed that, under Anquetil’s leadership, Sonepar Canada doubled in size while undertaking transformational projects which shaped the future of the organization. He led efforts that strengthened customer service and operational excellence, including state-of-the-art distribution center automation; implementing a new digital platform to accelerate an omnichannel experience; and creating specialty business capabilities to further diversify Sonepar offerings in the market.

“I am very proud of how we grew the business in Canada and in the development of careers for our associates,” Anquetil said in a news release. “It’s very gratifying to watch someone who started as a sales account manager grow their career to lead a large functional area of the organization today. Sonepar has a strong entrepreneurial culture that allows associates to imagine many different opportunities for the work they do and their own professional development.”  

McClean served as president of National Tire Distributors for 6 years until September 2022. Prior to that, he spent 2006 to 2015 at Grainger’s Acklands-Grainger subsidiary in Canada, which included roles of VP and General Counsel; VP of Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Social Responsibility; and VP and General Manager of Eastern Canada and Chief Legal Officer; and CEO of WFS Ltd., which was acquired by Grainger in 2014. McClean spent the first 10 years of his career at General Motors.

“Having worked in fast-paced environments where exceeding customer needs was a daily expectation, George is an ideal choice to lead the next chapter for Sonepar Canada,” said Rob Taylor, President of Sonepar North America. “George has deep expertise in developing strategic roadmaps, leading acquisitions, accelerating adoption of analytics and digitization within an organization, and developing talent. With François having led a very well-run operation in Canada, I expect a smooth transition.”

Sonepar North America was No. 2 on MDM’s 2023 Top Electrical Distributors List.