Director of Corporate Development

Lonestar Electric Supply•Houston, TX

About The Position

Lonestar Electric Supply is a rapidly expanding independent electrical distributor with a significant presence across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The company is pursuing a strategic buy-and-build approach to broaden its geographic reach, enhance its product and service offerings, and establish a national distribution platform. Lonestar is guided by an experienced management team and supported by robust legal, finance, and operations infrastructure, enabling swift and effective operations. Currently, Lonestar operates over 30 branches with more than 1600 employees and generates over $2 billion in annual revenue. The U.S. electrical distribution market is substantial, critical, and highly fragmented, featuring national chains alongside numerous independent distributors. Many independent distributors face succession challenges and are seeking partners for growth. Simultaneously, structural demand drivers such as data center construction, electrification of transportation and buildings, grid modernization, utility investments, and the reshoring of domestic manufacturing are accelerating. Lonestar is strategically positioned at the confluence of these trends. With a proven operational model, substantial financial backing from an institutional sponsor, and strong momentum, the company is poised for significant consolidation in a fragmented market over the coming years. The Director of Corporate Development will be instrumental in driving this M&A program. The Director of Corporate Development will be the primary owner and operator of Lonestar’s M&A program, overseeing all stages from strategy formulation through to post-close integration. This is a highly visible and impactful role that reports directly to the CEO, working closely with the CFO, CAO/General Counsel, and divisional leadership. The ideal candidate will be responsible for sourcing, developing, and managing a disciplined acquisition pipeline, leading deal execution involving financial, commercial, legal, and operational due diligence, and ensuring that each acquisition achieves its projected synergies and cultural alignment. This position is designed for a corporate development leader eager to contribute to a fast-growing business through an integrated organic and inorganic growth strategy, aiming to institutionalize a repeatable process, close multiple transactions annually, and witness the tangible impact of their work on branches, customer relationships, and financial results. As the company expands, the Director will have the opportunity to build and lead a dedicated corporate development team.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related discipline.
7–12 years of progressive experience across corporate development, investment banking, transaction advisory, or a combination, with meaningful ownership of buy-side transactions from origination through close.
Demonstrated experience leading or materially contributing to post-close integration, not just deal execution.
Strong financial modeling, valuation, and diligence skills; fluent in LBO mechanics, working capital treatment, quality-of-earnings analysis, and purchase price mechanics.
Advanced Excel modeling and PowerPoint presentation skills; familiarity with CRM/pipeline tools and virtual data rooms.
Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to distill complex deal dynamics into clear board-level materials.
Comfort operating with ambiguity, tight timelines, and multiple simultaneous workstreams.
Willingness to travel across Lonestar’s footprint and target markets (approximately 30–40%); deal timelines may occasionally require short-notice travel and periods of evening or weekend work.

Nice To Haves

MBA or CFA.
Industry experience in electrical distribution, industrial distribution, building products, or an adjacent B2B distribution vertical.
Familiarity with distribution-specific diligence considerations: branch profitability analysis, inventory quality, rebate accounting, customer concentration, and vendor relationships.
Experience working directly with outside legal, accounting and banking advisors.
Ownership mindset – treats every dollar of enterprise value as personal.
Judgment and discretion – comfortable holding confidential information and navigating sensitive owner-operator dynamics.
Bias to action, paired with the analytical discipline to know when to walk away from a deal.
Collaborative operating style – respected by finance, legal, operations, and field leadership alike.
Ability to influence and drive outcomes without direct authority across deal and integration teams.
High integrity, low ego, high output.

Responsibilities

M&A Strategy & Pipeline Development: Partner with the CEO, CFO, and Board to refine Lonestar’s acquisition thesis, prioritized target geographies, and end-market focus.
Build, prioritize, and maintain a proprietary target database covering electrical distributors, adjacent product lines (lighting, automation, industrial supply), and complementary service offerings.
Act as core liaison to Lonestar’s primary OEM supplier partner, aligning the acquisition pipeline with our joint expansion strategy and identifying add-on targets that expand our combined market presence in under-distributed geographies.
Cultivate relationships with sell-side advisors, industry brokers, association contacts, and independent owners to generate proprietary and limited-process opportunities.
Own the corporate development toolkit: CRM and pipeline tracker, relationship databases, virtual data rooms, and standing diligence request lists.
Conduct ongoing market, industry, and competitive-landscape research to sharpen the acquisition thesis and inform target prioritization.
Present pipeline updates, market intelligence, and pursuit recommendations at monthly management reviews and quarterly Board meetings.
Transaction Execution: Lead the end-to-end deal process: initial outreach, NDA, IOI/LOI, financial analysis, diligence, definitive documentation, and closing.
Build and stress-test acquisition models, including synergy quantification, financing implications, purchase price allocation considerations, and returns analysis.
Coordinate diligence workstreams (financial, tax, legal, commercial, operational, IT, HR, environmental, insurance) using, and continuously improving, Lonestar’s internal diligence playbook.
Manage day-to-day relationships with outside counsel, accounting advisors, quality-of-earnings providers, and lenders, in collaboration with the CFO and CAO/GC.
Structure transactions to align incentives with owner-operators, including rollover equity, earnouts, seller financing, and retention arrangements.
Draft and manage internal deal materials: investment committee memos, board approval packages, and sponsor communications.
Partner with CFO and sponsor on financing execution for each transaction, including use of acquisition facility, R&W insurance placement, and purchase price funding.
Post-Close Integration: Own the integration function end-to-end, including 100-day plans, workstream governance, milestone tracking, and synergy realization reporting.
Own cultural integration and talent retention by onboarding leadership, retaining key sellers and branch talent, and preserving local relationships, while implementing platform standards.
Chair the cross-functional Integration Steering Committee and lead cadence meetings across finance, operations, HR, IT, legal, and commercial workstreams.
Coordinate with functional leaders to ensure timely execution of ERP conversions, branding transitions, benefits harmonization, customer and vendor communications, and other integration deliverables.
Track and report on integration KPIs and synergy capture against the underwritten deal model; identify and escalate risks in real time.
Institutionalize learnings from each transaction into a continuously improved integration playbook.
Cross-Functional & Sponsor Engagement: Serve as a trusted business partner to the executive team, translating strategic priorities into executable transaction pipelines.
Coach and develop junior corporate development, finance, and operations team members involved in transaction and integration work, with the opportunity to build a dedicated team as the platform scales.
Contribute to broader strategic initiatives, including market entry analyses, greenfield branch decisions, and organic growth investments.