Javi Richmond joins Gescan’s executive team as the new president. Having worked in almost every Canadian province, he brings more than 30 years of industry knowledge and experience to the role. “Western Canada is in my blood. I have worked in all the locations and know a lot of the employees and customer base through [my] personal and professional life,” said Javi. A former Vice President of Sales at E.B Horsman & Son and Managing Director at Weidmüller, Javi saw joining Gescan as an opportunity to learn more about the business from Sonepar Canada’s President, Francois, whom he admires for his strong leadership. 

As a private, locally-driven company with a global scale, Gescan also attracted Javi because he knew he could make a real impact at the company. He quickly got to know the organization and its teams, “We jumped in right away and started strategic planning with the senior teams, focusing on branch and sales reviews...I am highly impressed and proud of our senior team’s ability to think and act strategically. They have done a great job building market share and maintaining a customer-centric focus — which is Gescan’s strength,” said Javi. He was also admittedly surprised by Gescan’s online capabilities, “Our digital is unbelievably ahead of everyone else!”. 

Building on decades of innovation, service and leadership, Javi is working on multiple transformational projects and opportunities focused on operational excellence and delivering growth for the business, “To become number one in Western Canada, it is important for us to remain steadfast in our pursuit of making our customers’ lives easier...We would like to be the benchmark for operational excellence out west.” Plans include automating warehouses, new processes, tools and networks to support branch operations and sales teams, as well as aiding internal advancement, “Growth does not just mean bottom-line dollars. Our priority is the growth of our people. The senior team is committed to career pathing and growth for all associates. It takes the entire team to make the magic happen.” 

When asked how he thought the branch might change in the next five years, Javi responded, “We are going to continue to invest in future bricks and mortar. As part of the omnichannel experience, we will continue to increase the digital pools but also know that we have to get products to market as quickly as possible and the branches are still a great way of doing it. The other side of it is the expertise of the people that we have continuing to raise the bar, from warehouse to the top of the organization. Our counter salespeople are really the go-to for a lot of product selection and that's not gonna change. That's our differentiator between pure and online players...Expertise. Local support. Trusted advisors. Solution providers.” 

Javi is also committed to ensuring Gescan is a model of sustainability. While sustainability has been discussed in the industry for the past 20 years, Javi explains that the real difference now is it’s no longer about saving money but about saving the planet and people. Gescan offers incentives to encourage employees to drive electric vehicles. Javi explained, “We in our small way can impact our carbon footprint and that's important to Sonepar and it's important to us. We're going to be putting [EV] charging stations in all our locations. We see that many contractors are also leaning that way and preordering to construct so we will support them. It's the future of our existence.” 

Javi began his career working in the warehouse at Weidmüller while studying Political Science and Philosophy at York University before being offered a marketing coordinator position when he graduated. He applied for the warehouse role at the urging of his girlfriend, Weidmüller’s receptionist at the time, “She got me started in this business in an around way. We owe it all to her. 25 years married now.” Javi is also a very proud father of two and enjoys golf, soccer and running triathlons.