1980s to present
On December 4, 1980, the Stouffer's Inn Fire killed 13 members of Arrow's senior management, including Glenn and Green. Waddell assumed leadership and, in 1982, recruited Stephen P. Kaufman, formerly a partner of McKinsey & Company, to join Arrow as president of the company's electronics distribution division. Kaufman succeeded Waddell as CEO in 1986 and as chairman in 1994.[8]
In 1988, Arrow adopted a growth strategy by acquiring Kierulff Electronics. According to Forbes, the company closed down all four Kierulff Electronics warehouses and within a year it experienced "miraculous" growth that went from a bottom line of $16 million loss in 1987 to operating profits of $10 million.[9]
During his nearly two decades with Arrow, Kaufman led the company's consolidation of the U.S. electronics distribution industry as well as the company's expansion into Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Under Kaufman's leadership, Arrow completed over 50 acquisitions of electronics distributors, including such prominent names as Ducommun (Kierulff), Lex (Schweber), Zeus, Anthem, Bell, and Wyle (all in the U.S.), Spoerle (Germany), Silverstar (Italy), and CAL (Hong Kong and China). Kaufman also led the company into the national distribution of commercial computer products, initially through its acquisition of Gates/FA Distributing. Arrow entered the 21st century with global electronic component sales of $9 billion and $3 billion of sales in its computer products business.[5] In 1998, Arrow Electronics established a 50/50 joint venture with Marubun Corporation of Japan called Marubun/Arrow in order to augment and support each other's operations in Asia and North America.[10]
Kaufman stepped down as CEO in 2000, retired as chairman in 2002, and was succeeded by Daniel W. Duval, a 15-year Arrow board veteran. In 2003, William E. Mitchell, former president of the global services division of Solectron Corporation, joined Arrow as chief executive officer and,[11] in 2006, became chairman. During Mitchell's six years at Arrow, sales climbed to $17 billion as the company increased shareholder returns, improved operating efficiencies, and completed 17 acquisitions.[5]
In 2009, Michael J. Long succeeded Mitchell as CEO, and in 2010 took over as chairman.[12][13] A long-time Arrow executive, Long joined the company in 1991 through the merger with Schweber Electronics and served in various senior management positions before becoming CEO. During Long's tenure, Arrow completed over 40 strategic acquisitions that further expanded its global components and computer systems businesses. In 2015, Arrow acquired United Technical Publishing from Hearst, adding properties such as Electronic Products and Schematics.com.[14] In June 2016, UBM reached agreement to divest its electronics media portfolio to an affiliate of Arrow Electronics Inc. for a cash consideration of $23.5 million. The portfolio comprises the U.S. and Asian versions of EE Times, EDN, ESM, Embedded, EBN, TechOnline and Datasheets.com.[15]
In June 2022, Sean J. Kerins succeeded Long as president and CEO. Having joined Arrow in 2007 as vice president of North America storage and networking, Kerins went on to serve as president of the company’s North America enterprise computing solutions business before being named global president of the business in 2014 and then chief operating officer in 2020.[16] Kerins separated from the company in September 2025.
Arrow is ranked No. 154 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[3] The company has also been recognized for 26 years overall on Fortune's “World’s Most Admired Companies” list.[4]
