Brett Cope: Weathering Storms in Cyclical Business

Brett Cope, president, and CEO of Powell Industries recounts his leadership of a 75-year-old family business with a can-do attitude. He shines a light on the importance of culture in enabling a small company to weather the many economic storms and stay on the path of continuous improvement and value creation despite business cyclicality. Powell Industries designs, manufactures, and services custom-engineered equipment and systems for the distribution, control, and monitoring of electrical energy. 

Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in the electrical, automation, and process industries, Mr. Cope also shares his views on the state of the electrical energy equipment industry today and the electrical energy sector’s likely transformation over the next several years. Listen in as one of the pioneers in the electrical and automation space talks about weathering crises, embodying core values, attracting and keeping talent at a relatively small company, and being a nonfamily CEO of a family-owned business.

Discussion points:

• Powell Industries and the nature of their business
• Cyclicality of the energy industry and Powell’s preparedness for it
• Powell’s weathering of covid and the ensuing wave of supply chain challenges
• Opportunities for Powell amidst the different trends shaping the electrical energy industry 
• Brett’s career path to Powell, and the challenges of being the first non-family member to run the company
• Powell’s culture as a key enabler to weather the many storms
• Brett’s leadership and embodiment of Powell’s four core values: Customer First, Respect for our Employees, Continuous Improvement, and “Can-Do” Attitude
• Driving Powell’s market performance now and in the future
• Attracting and keeping talent at sub-$1Bn company
• Brett’s predictions for the next 3-5 years and views on alternate energy sources vs. oil and gas

Fernweh Insights is brought to you by Fernweh Group. The host of this episode, Danielle Isbell, is Manager of Operations at Fernweh.

This episode is part of Fernweh’s Industrials series which focuses on transformational journeys of companies in the industrials sector, one of the most prominent sectors and the bedrock of the U.S. economy. Fernweh Group is an investment company that is adapting an engaged investor and operator model to create alpha – performance superior to market indices – in the industrial/industrial tech sector.  

For More Information

Powell Industries Website: https://www.powellind.com/Default.aspx

Brett Cope on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-cope-4a050b3/

Fernweh Group: https://www.fernweh.com