38 years ago, Steve Byrne started working in the warehouse of American Light. After a name change and a few promotions he’s the COO of Facility Solutions Group. He invited us to his offices to share his experiences and insights into the industry.

He’s seen a number of disruptions and new learning curves emerge but believes we may be seeing a reconstruction of the distribution channel that puts partnerships ahead of brand name recognition. We also talked about the gaps between experts and consumers on the subject of integrative lighting and the IoT. The near future is unpredictable, but Steve does see some bright spots as the first round of adopters to LED are beginning to get used to the idea of relamping and switching entire fixtures out to maintain light.