Anquetil Retires as Head of Sonepar Canada

Sonepar (Charleston, SC): François Anquetil, the company’s president of Sonepar Canada, retired after a 36-year career at the company. He will remain as acting president through March 2024 as he transitions responsibilities to incoming president of Sonepar Canada, George McClean.

During his career at Sonepar, Anquetil 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).

Under his 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,” he said, “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.” 

George McClean, former president of National Tire Distributors, has spent his career at companies like General Motors, and W.W. Grainger, where he worked for 10 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from Western University, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School, an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, and is a CPA. 

“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, in the press release. “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.”