Company is positioned for continued organic growth and increased M&A activity
SureWerx, a leading global manufacturer of personal protective equipment, safety products, tool and safety solutions today announced the appointment of Scott Dowell to Chief Executive Officer, effective May 27, 2025. Dowell will lead SureWerx’s global operations, reinforcing the company’s strategic vision and priorities while driving business performance and a continued focus on innovation, digitization and growth. Dowell succeeds Chris Baby, who is transitioning into an M&A and advisory support focused role after fifteen years as CEO. Baby will serve as Executive Director, Mergers & Acquisitions to support the company’s continued success.
Scott joins SureWerx with over 25 years of experience in the industrial distribution sector. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the U.S. Industrial Division of Wesco, delivering significantly above market, organic growth over his 4 years in the role. Throughout his career, Scott has held various leadership roles in Sales, Operations, Supply Chain and Global Accounts. He has successfully scaled companies from small businesses to large multinational conglomerates by implementing strong commercial strategies, developing talented leaders, and leveraging an entrepreneurial leadership style that empowers and energizes his team for growth.
“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. 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,” said Dowell.
Chris Baby, who joined SureWerx in 2009, has held the role of CEO for the past 15 years. During this time, Chris has led the company through tremendous growth and expansion in North America and into Europe. Under Chris’ tenure, he oversaw seventeen acquisitions and ultimately increased the size of the business tenfold. Chris’ inspirational and visionary leadership led the company to expand outside of Canada, pivoting the company from a tool and equipment business to a broad global PPE and Safety company with the ultimate mission of keeping people safe and productive. Chris will pass the CEO reins to Scott and going forward will lead all M&A activities for SureWerx.
“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. 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,” said Baby.
“We are deeply grateful to Chris for his leadership and the pivotal role he has played in scaling SureWerx to where it is today. M&A remains a key pillar of our value creation strategy, and we're pleased that he will continue to contribute in this newly created role, where he can leverage his deep expertise to lead our M&A strategy. We are thrilled to welcome Scott as our new CEO. His strategic commercial background, deep operational expertise and proven track record of driving above-market growth across the industrial sector will be instrumental in accelerating our momentum. Scott's leadership will build on our strong foundation and help guide SureWerx into its next phase of growth and value creation,” said Derek Lim, SureWerx Board Member and Managing Director, Partners Group.
For more information about SureWerx, please visit www.surewerx.com.
About SureWerx
Co-headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, and Chicago, Illinois, SureWerx is a leading global manufacturer of personal protective equipment, safety products along with tool and safety solutions. SureWerx markets its safety products under multiple owned brands including Jackson Safety, Sellstrom, Pioneer, PeakWorks, ADA Solutions, Armor Tile, Access Tile, Due North, K1, Avenger, Nautilus, MEGAComfort, NEOS, Oberon, FALL SAFE and Reliance Fall Protection brands. SureWerx markets its tool solutions under the owned brands of JET, Strongarm, American Forge & Foundry, STARTECH and ITC brands.
SureWerx offers unparalleled access to its brands through its distributor network servicing the industrial, construction, safety, electrical, utilities, resources, transportation & logistics, automotive aftermarket, and warehousing markets globally. For more information visit www.surewerx.com.
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Magnolia Marketing Communications
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