Jason Seger
President and CEO
Jason joined Border States in 1999 and has passionately served the organization in a variety of roles, both in the corporate office and in the field. With over two decades of leadership experience that spans sports, school, community and business, he has helped lead the organization through multibillion-dollar growth with a track record of taking care of and developing great people, empowering people to succeed and achieving results that matter. He attributes his success to the people he works with and learns from every day, at every level of the organization.
Jason Stein
Chief Information Officer
Jason joined Border States in May 1995 as a Management Trainee. He worked in various customer- and vendor-facing positions of increasing responsibility, including Product Manager, Account Manager, Regional Industrial Sales Manager, Vice President Sales and Vice President Northwest Region. Jason was named Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing in 2018 and Chief Information Officer in January 2024. He joined the Officers Council in 2009. In 2010, he was appointed to the Executive Committee and also participates on the company’s Compensation Committee.
Jeremy Welsand
Chief Financial Officer
Jeremy joined Border States in December 2011 as the CFO. He is a member of the Officers Council, Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, and leads the finance, accounting, customer financial services and risk management functions of the company. Before working at Border States, Jeremy was an Audit Partner with Grant Thornton, LLP, a national public accounting firm and international accounting organization. He has experience working with public and private companies in the technology, manufacturing, distribution and construction industries. Jeremy worked in London, England, from 2005–2007, gaining experience with international financial reporting standards and has significant experience with mergers and acquisitions.
Kelly Dawson
Executive VP Human Resources
Kelly joined Border States in August 2018 as Senior Vice President Human Resources. As a member of the Executive Committee and Officers Council, Kelly provides vision, direction and leadership for our company talent strategy and leads the Human Resources and Communication teams. She has worked to establish and guide the Unity Council and their work to foster diversity, equity and inclusion and led the COVID-19 response team, helping navigate Border States through the pandemic. Kelly was promoted to her current position April 1, 2021. Prior to joining Border States, Kelly was the Vice President Human Resources at Noridian Healthcare Solutions where she was responsible for more than 2,000 employees in 44 states. Before joining Noridian, Kelly held human resources leadership positions in the manufacturing, healthcare and food industries. Kelly is a Florida native and a graduate of Stetson University. She earned a master’s degree from Claremont Graduate University.
Nick Vaughn
VP General Counsel
Nick started with Border States in July 2018, where he was Senior In-house Counsel and Director of Employee Relations and worked within the Human Resources team to address labor and employment matters and ensure state-by-state compliance with applicable laws and regulations. In March 2020, Nick became the Director of Legal and Managing Counsel, where he led the Legal team. He was named to his current position in August 2023 and also serves as a member of the Leadership Council. Nick has a passion for providing practical, solution-oriented legal advice and enjoys the common purpose that comes with working in an in-house legal role. Before joining Border States, Nick worked at the North Dakota Attorney General's Office for three years as an Assistant Attorney General and served as the General Counsel to the North Dakota University System and the State Board of Higher Education. He also worked previous in-house counsel roles for American University in Washington, D.C., and the State of Massachusetts. Nick lives in Fargo, North Dakota, with his wife, Tasha, their son, Ike, and Norm, their 100-pound Newfoundland/Labrador mix. In his free time, Nick enjoys spending time with family and friends, coaching baseball, playing golf and traveling.
Don Masters
Executive VP Sales and Marketing
Don joined Border States as Southeast Region Vice President with the acquisition of Shealy Electrical Wholesalers 2016. On January 1, 2021, Don was promoted to Executive Vice President – East Region and joined Border States' Executive Committee in April 2021. He was named to his current position in April 2024. Don entered the distribution industry in 1998 as a Sales Trainee with a regional Midwest industrial distributor. After a successful tenure as a Sales Engineer, he joined a Southeast regional electrical distributor as a Supplier Partnership Services Manager, working in Alliance business development and management. He progressed at that company through roles with increasing P&L responsibility as District Manager, Division Manager and Region Vice President. Don next partnered with a telecom entrepreneur in an indoor wireless telecom systems (DAS) startup business. After the successful start of that business, he returned to the electrical distribution, joining Shealy in 2013 as an Area Business Manager, a role that quickly expanded into a Construction Core Market Sales Vice President role.
Matt Eddleman
Executive VP Construction
Matt joined Border States in June 2005 as the Southwest Region Manager, covering six branch locations in Arizona; New Mexico; El Paso, Texas; and Juarez, Mexico. He was named Vice President Southwest Region and an Officers Council member in 2006 and was promoted to his current position in January 2021. Matt’s 38-year career has been focused exclusively on electrical manufacturing sales, sales management, and regional leadership and executive leadership positions within electrical distribution. On January 1, 2021, Matt was promoted to Executive Vice President – West Region and he joined Border States’ Executive Committee in April 2021. Matt was named to his current position in April 2024. His responsibility for the West Region has expanded to 13 states with 42 branch locations, which have revenue of over $1 billion and 950 employee-owners.
James C. Sipe
Executive VP Supply Chain
James joined Border States through the Shealy Electrical Wholesalers acquisition in 2016, where he was Vice President of Operations. James was promoted to Vice President Strategy Enablement and joined the Officers Council at Border States on April 1, 2017. He was promoted to Vice President of Operations on April 1, 2018, and to Senior Vice President Supply Chain on November 1, 2020. James was named to his current position on April 1, 2022 and is responsible for delivering a highly innovative and effective supply chain that makes our customers better. He is a key leader in the organization for delivering efficiency, process improvement and has worked closely on integration projects and delivering maximum value on strategic projects.
Richelle Bishoff
VP Procurement
Richelle joined Border States in 2011 and is currently responsible for leading all procurement functions for the organization, including procurement operations (costing, purchasing, procurement services, alliance sourcing) and regional procurement (inventory and demand planning, cost analyst, alliance inventory). Throughout her 11-plus years as an employee-owner, Richelle has held multiple supply chain roles across the inventory, costing and sourcing functions with leadership and balanced experience in operational and customer-facing roles and, most recently, she served as the Director of Procurement Operations. Richelle has a passion for defining and implementing strategies to address and improve business needs and for team development and career planning. She was a recipient of tED magazine's “30 under 35” award in 2018 and the United Way’s 35 Under 35 Women's Leadership Program in 2019–2020. Richelle is active in the Fargo, North Dakota, community and serves as a member of the YWCA Programs Committee and the BIO Girls Believer’s Circle Advisory Committee.
Ryan Evans
VP Construction Solutions
Ryan Evans joined Border States in January 2019 as VP Sales and Marketing - Construction and was named to his current role in April 2024. As a member of the Officers Council, Ryan is responsible for growing our construction market by working closely with key vendors, our Marketing team and the sales leadership to develop strategies and initiatives that solve our customers’ greatest business challenges. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Ryan spent the last 22 years in the electrical and industrial distribution industry, most recently from Sonepar, where he served as Vice President of Sales for World Electric. Ryan started his career in the warehouse as a summer temp at age 16 and worked his way up through warehouse, outside sales, branch management, district management and profit and loss leadership positions.
Geoff Murphy
VP Vendor Strategy and Relations
Geoff joined Border States in January 2019 as Vice President of Vendor Relations and was named to his current role in April 2024. He leads strategic vendor relationships as a primary contact to ensure growth and profitability initiatives are executed consistently across our three core markets — construction, industrial and utility. Geoff also is responsible for our Affiliated Distributor (AD) relationship and the associated strategies that benefit our valued vendors and customers. He has more than 20 years senior level experience in the electrical, lighting and datacomm industry. Geoff served Philips Lighting as Director of Distributor Sales in 2012 managing the AD and Imark relationships and served on the NAED CAP Council during that time. In 2015, he was named President/CEO of Auburn Armature Incorporated (AAI) in Western New York. While at AAI, Geoff led the reorganization initiatives, due diligence process and ultimate sale of the entity. Geoff is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in communications. He also holds certificates in strategic finance from Harvard Business School of Executive Education and sales management strategies from the University of Michigan Business School.
Tony Serati
VP Supply Chain Strategy and Optimization
Tony joined Border States in 2003 and has served in several roles within the Branch Support Center (corporate office) in Fargo, North Dakota — Buyer, Inventory Supervisor, Purchasing Manager, Pricing and Sourcing Manager and Director of Procurement. Tony was named Vice President Procurement in 2020 and named to the Officers Council. He was named to his current position in April 2024 and has overall responsibility for purchasing, costing, inventory, demand planning and sourcing functions within the company. Tony has a passion for overall process improvement and efficiency in conjunction with focus on end-to-end process improvement in the supply chain. He also serves on the Border States Technology Advisory Committee. Tony graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Management Information Systems (MIS). He also holds CPIM and CSCP certificates from the Association for Operations Management (APICS). Tony serves on the Board of Directors for the NDSU College of Business and has served on the Eaton Distributor Advisory Council.
Patrick Novak
VP Utility Sales
Patrick joined Border States in December 2000. He held a variety of positions, including Strategic Business Relationship Specialist, Utility Sales and Marketing Coordinator, Electric Utility Marketing Manager, Utility Market Manager and Director of Marketing. He was promoted to Vice President Marketing and became a member of the Officers Council in 2013. Patrick was named Vice President Midwest Area – North Central Region on April 1, 2018. He assumed the position of Vice President Customer Experience on April 1, 2021, was named VP Utility in August 2022 and named to his current role in April 2024.
Jeff Stauffer
Senior VP Utility
Jeff has been in the utility distribution business for over 27 years, serving in a variety of roles, including sales, branch and sales management, operations, customer service and Division President. He has extensive experience securing and growing alliance relationships at large and small utilities. Jeff serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the North American Association of Utility Distributors (NAAUD). He joined Border States in 2019 as Utility Sales Director, supporting the Great Lakes Region in the Utility Sales Management role. Jeff was named Utility Alliance Director in February 2021, VP Strategic Alliances in May 2021 and to his current role in April 2024.
Shane Kerska
VP Industrial Solutions
Shane joined Border States in September 1993 in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, location. Having a customer mindset and serving in a variety of positions has provided Shane with a deep understanding for people in those same roles today. As Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the industrial market, Shane built the growth strategy in that market for the company. He was named to his current role in April 2024. He works closely with the market Sales Directors and Managers to ensure we can exceed our customers’ expectations by giving our field sales team the tools to succeed. He enjoys listening to customers and learning how Border States can improve and acting on their feedback. Shane sees working with a wide variety of employee-owners to deliver solutions to our customers as one of the most rewarding parts of his job.
Megan Friedrich
VP Revenue Operations
Megan joined Border States in February 2023 and was named to her current role in April 2024. She is responsible for leading our revenue shared-services function, consisting of marketing, sales enablement, customer success and digital customer experience. Megan has over 18 years of experience with business and technology companies leading and executing on customer-centric go-to-market teams. Most recently, Megan held the position of Executive Director of Revenue Enablement at Deluxe Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is experienced in creating business strategies centered around helping the customer and driving scalable, transformational change across the business. Megan is active in the Brainerd Lakes Area (Minnesota) community and serves on our Women’s Experience Employee-owner Resource Group.