History

Ferguson is a company committed to growth of its business and its people. Since its founding in 1953 by Charlie Ferguson, Ralph Lenz and Johnny Smithers, the company has doubled in size every five years. The company was started with two locations in Washington, D.C., and Birmingham, Ala., for the purpose of servicing smaller plumbing contractors. In 1954, Crossroads Supply opened in Alexandria, Va., and became the umbrella company for the three locations. Peebles Supply was opened in 1959 in Newport News, Va., by David Peebles, who in 1969 became the second president and changed the name of the managing company to Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.

Under Peebles' leadership, Ferguson grew to be an industry leader by idealizing the American dream of owning and operating a business. Ferguson managers who started locations under their own names were truly entrepreneurs and structured their businesses based on local market demands. Peebles instituted the Management Training Program, which was designed to attract the best and brightest the workforce had to offer. Peebles' philosophy of aggressive expansion and his vision of what we could become served Ferguson well during this period of growth. By 1982, when the company was acquired by Wolseley, plc, Ferguson had 76 locations in 11 states. Wolseley's financial strength contributed to Ferguson's phenomenal growth in the next decade with the addition of thirteen new states, bringing our total number of locations to 200.

In 1989, Charlie Banks, Peebles' first official trainee, became president. With Banks' guidance, Ferguson grew from $600 million in sales to over $3.3 billion and more than 500 locations. In May 2001, Banks became group chief executive of Wolseley, Ferguson's parent company, and Chip Hornsby stepped in to guide Ferguson as president and chief executive officer. Hornsby’s perpetuation of the long-standing philosophy of settling for nothing less than the best – in products offered, in customer service provided, and in the people who are the Ferguson team – continued as the company’s true competitive advantage. Mr. Hornsby was appointed Wolseley's Group Chief Executive in August 2006, following Mr. Bank's retirement.

Led today by President and Chief Executive Officer John Stegeman, Ferguson continues to focus on recruiting and training the best associates, a proven strategy that will allow Ferguson to continue to meet their ambitious goals for the future.