Greensboro, NC – February 9th, 2023 – After 25 years of successfully leading Stake Center, today George Bear announces his plans to retire. The succession planning and transition has been in process and will continue over the coming months. Stake Center’s board of directors has elected Heath Martin, the company’s current COO & CFO, to theposition of CEO. Baer will work closely with Martin and will remain on the board as a non-executive Chairman through October 31, 2023.

The announcement of Baer’s retirement honors his twenty-five-year career with the Company. Baer joined the organization in 1997 as CFO. In 2002, Baer was promoted to COO & CFO of the company. And, in April 2018, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Stake Center Locating. During his tenure as President & CEO he led the company through incredible periods of highs and lows. Stake Center Locating is appreciative of Baer’s years of service and will be celebrating his retirement in the coming months.

“I am delighted that Heath will become our company’s next CEO,” said Baer. “He has demonstrated exceptional leadership in his roles leading the operations and finances of our company, and he brings the vision and values to lead Stake Center into the future.”

“I look forward to leading Stake Center and driving performance for all our stakeholders; working with our employees, our customers, and our shareholders as we move our company forward,” said Martin.
“The board of directors has a strong focus on succession planning, and Heath’s election as our incoming CEO and ensures a seamless transition in this important leadership position for our company,” said Andrew Crouch, Stake Center’s Chairman of the Board. “The board appreciates the tremendous progress the company has made under George’s leadership, and we look forward to building on this progress with Heath as our next CEO.”

Martin joined the company in 2020 and has held a series of positions of increasing responsibility, including serving as the chief financial officer and currently as COO & CFO. Martin brought experience as Vice-President and CFO of the Productivity Products division within Honeywell as well as other senior level finance positions within Caterpillar, Danaher, and Fortive.

Stake Center Locating is a leading utility locating company focused on delivering high-quality, safe and accurate locating services. Stake Center Locating operates nationwide in 48 states and is home to more than 1,200+ employees and field personnel. Stake Center Locating completes 850,000 locate requests each month.