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2009 Inductee
Susan Solomon Auerbach
Susan Solomon Auerbach, executive vice president - corporate development at Generation Brands in Riverside, N.J., was inducted into the American Lighting Association's (ALA) Lighting Hall of Fame at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., September 15.
Solomon Auerbach is only the twenty-second person - and the second woman - to receive the lighting industry's highest honor for dedication and contributions to the association and the industry.
As the granddaughter of Henry Siegel, founder of Sea Gull Lighting, daughter of the late Edwin Solomon and a senior executive of Sea Gull Lighting for the past 27 years, Solomon Auerbach has dedicated most of her life to the development of high-quality lighting products that satisfy the market's widespread tastes for fashion, flair and function.
Regularly admitting that, "I grew up in the lighting industry, it was in our blood," she also inherited a "family-minded" approach to big business, which included treating employees, partners and customers with an old-fashioned sense of value. This includes traveling thousands of miles annually to learn personally about customers' tastes, their business challenges and opportunities and turning those insights into widely successful programs and product lines that include more than 3,500 products and span 15 separate decorative and functional lighting categories.
As a result of this diligence, Solomon Auerbach was named executive vice president - corporate development at Generation Brands in July 2008. As a driving force behind its continuing growth, the Generation Brands family now stands as one of the nation's largest and most successful privately-held lighting companies. The Generation Brands family today consists of thousands of high-quality fixtures bearing the LBL, Monte Carlo Fan Company, Murray Feiss Lighting, Sea Gull Lighting, Tech Lighting and Wilmette Lighting brands.
In addition, she has continually supported the ALA's efforts to staunchly support ALA members, manufacturers and showrooms with the latest technological, marketing and customer information and sales strategies. Over the years, she has served the ALA in varied leadership roles and was the first woman elected chairperson of the ALA Board of Governors.
By viewing the lighting industry as "a delightful mix of creativity and hard business rules" and believing that "we can only succeed by change," Solomon Auerbach's positive influence and commanding presence has helped influence an industry.
Lighting Hall of Fame Members
Judy Anderson
Illumination Systems, Inc.
Susan Solomon Auerbach
Generation Brands
Nelson J. Bleisch
Thomas Lighting
William F. Blitzer
Lightolier
William K. Branham, Sr.
The Brecher Company
Burton A. Burton *
Casablanca Fan Co.
Arthur Director, CLC
Connecticut Lighting
Murray Feiss
Murray Feiss Lighting
Gerald Fleischer *
Hermitage Lighting Gallery
Harry L. Gilham, Jr.
Georgia Lighting
Philip S. Hoefer
Hoefer/Funsinn Lighting Agency
Ray Huizinga *
Huizinga Sales Co.
Stanley D. Johnston, CLC
Johnston Lighting Associates
Sam Minoff
Kichler
Ira H. Phillips
Quoizel, Inc.
Larry K. Powers
Philips Business Unit, Professional Luminaires North America (formerly The Genlyte Group)
Bruce A. Robinson
Robinson Lighting
Andrew Schonbek
Schonbek Worldwide Lighting, Inc.
Edwin N. Solomon *
Sea Gull Lighting Products, Inc.
Dennis Swanson
Lamps Plus
Bill Teiber *
Bill Teiber Co.
David Weisberg
Affiliated Distributors
*Deceased
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