Lark Electric, one of Kentucky’s longest-standing commercial and industrial electrical contractors, today announced that it has joined American Gridwork Partners through a strategic partnership designed to accelerate Lark’s regional growth while preserving the leadership, workforce, customer relationships and operating identity that have defined the business for more than six decades.

Ross Hyland will continue to lead Lark as CEO, while Charles Hughes and Terry Cooney will be elevated to executive roles responsible for division growth, performance and community development, working alongside Lark’s existing management and field teams.

Hughes is a fourth-generation electrician with extensive experience in the commercial electrical industry, while Cooney previously co-owned May Electric, which provided decades of critical electrical service to Kentucky communities before its sale to Lark in 2023.

“Lark is still Lark,” said Hyland. “The same people are running the business, the same teams are serving our customers and our commitment to the communities where we work is not changing. What this partnership gives us is the ability to invest more aggressively in our people, expand into new markets and broaden what we can offer customers who are asking us to do more.”

Founded in Owensboro in 1963, Lark has built a strong position across commercial and industrial electrical construction, service and industrial maintenance throughout Kentucky and the surrounding region. Prior to joining American Gridwork Partners, Lark expanded its regional footprint by combining with May Electric and Patterson-Westbrook Electric, bringing three established electrical businesses together under Lark’s leadership.

The partnership with American Gridwork Partners represents the next phase of that growth strategy.

American Gridwork Partners is an infrastructure investment platform bringing together specialized businesses responsible for building, modernizing and maintaining the physical infrastructure required to support the next industrial revolution. Lark joins a platform with complementary capabilities across civil and underground construction, power and water infrastructure, fiber and cabling and other mission-critical infrastructure services.

“Lark has spent more than 60 years earning its reputation one customer and one project at a time,” said Benjamin Krall, Founder and President of American Gridwork Partners. “Our goal is not to change what has made Lark successful. It is to invest behind Ross and his team and give them more resources, more capabilities and a larger geographic platform from which to grow.”

The partnership comes as Lark sees significant growth opportunities across Kentucky, Tennessee and the broader Southeast and Ohio Valley. Population growth, rising electricity demand, industrial investment, the reshoring of American manufacturing and the increasing automation of industrial facilities are creating substantial demand for electrical infrastructure and skilled field labor across the region.

Lark plans to expand beyond its existing Kentucky markets, including a larger push into Nashville and Middle Tennessee, where American Gridwork Partners already has an established operating presence.

The partnership also connects Lark more directly with PMT Site, acquired by American Gridwork Partners in 2025. PMT is a Nashville-based civil and underground infrastructure contractor focused on the foundational work required to repair, replace, expand and modernize America’s aging power and water grids. The business performs site preparation, underground utility, power and water infrastructure work supporting grid modernization, AI hyperscaler infrastructure, EV infrastructure, industrial facilities and other large-scale projects.

Bringing PMT’s underground capabilities together with Lark’s electrical expertise gives customers across Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee access to more of the service layers required on complex infrastructure projects through one coordinated platform. Those capabilities are further supported by the platform’s fiber and cabling operations.

“Modernizing the aging power and water infrastructure beneath our feet almost always creates electrical and fiber work behind it,” said Phil Terhaar, Founder and CEO of PMT Site. “Now that PMT and Lark can work together, we can follow those projects across more of the scope instead of handing them off. It opens doors for both businesses and gives our customers a much stronger regional partner.”

Lark and PMT are already working together on major projects across Western Kentucky. To American Gridwork Partners’ knowledge, the platform is the first in the region to bring underground power and water infrastructure, electrical services and fiber and cabling together as a coordinated offering for customers.

A major focus of the partnership will be industrial automation and expanding Lark’s capabilities within the industrial market.

Lark already has a strong position in industrial maintenance and service, with teams working inside food processing plants, manufacturing facilities and other industrial environments across the region. That existing customer base and field presence provide a foundation for Lark to expand further into industrial automation and the infrastructure required to support increasingly sophisticated manufacturing systems.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to move beyond software and into the physical world, bringing robotics, autonomous equipment, machine vision and increasingly intelligent systems into multi-trillion-dollar industries including food production, mining and manufacturing.

“Many of those technologies will be deployed inside facilities built decades before modern automation, industrial networking and autonomous systems were contemplated. Those plants will require upgrades to electrical capacity, controls, connectivity and other supporting infrastructure before increasingly intelligent equipment can operate reliably at scale,” said Grant Stark, CEO of American Gridwork Partners.

As part of the partnership, and off the back of Lark’s existing industrial automation and service offerings, Lark and American Gridwork Partners are investing in the development of a dedicated Industrial Automation & Physical AI division focused on helping industrial customers prepare their existing facilities for that transition.

“Lark already has a strong position in the industrial maintenance market across the region, and we have spent decades working inside many of the factories and food processing plants that are now being asked to modernize,” Hyland said. “As robotics, automation and increasingly intelligent equipment move into these facilities, our customers are going to need more electrical capacity, controls, connectivity and ongoing technical support. We see a major opportunity to expand what Lark can offer those customers.”

The division will build on Lark’s existing electrical and industrial capabilities with an expanded focus on industrial power distribution, controls, automation, machine connectivity, industrial networking, fiber, sensors and the infrastructure required to integrate increasingly automated equipment into operating facilities.

Lark is also broadening its capabilities around the changing way commercial and industrial customers generate, store and manage electricity. Rising power demand and concerns around grid capacity are leading businesses to evaluate behind-the-meter energy infrastructure, including onsite generation, backup and standby power, energy storage, EV and fleet charging, microgrids and other distributed energy systems.

In addition, Lark is establishing a dedicated service department focused on recurring electrical maintenance, emergency service and smaller commercial and industrial projects. The department will initially expand across Owensboro and Bowling Green before launching in Middle Tennessee, creating a more dedicated service offering for existing and new customers.

The partnership will also support continued investment in Lark’s workforce as demand for skilled electricians and technicians increases across the region. American Gridwork Partners and Lark plan to invest in recruiting, training, career development and additional opportunities for employees as the business expands geographically and adds new capabilities.

American Gridwork Partners and Lark also plan to introduce an Employee Stakeholder Program giving electricians, field leaders and other key employees a direct stake in the long-term growth of the business. The program is unusual in the electrical contracting industry and is being made possible by the scale and structure of the American Gridwork Partners platform.

“We believe one of the biggest constraints on America’s next industrial buildout is going to be skilled people,” said Grant Stark, CEO of American Gridwork Partners. “Lark has spent decades building a workforce that knows these facilities, knows these customers and knows how to get difficult work done. That is a tremendous asset, and a major part of this partnership is investing in that team and creating more opportunities for the people already inside the business.”

For Hyland, the partnership is intended to preserve what Lark has built while giving the business a larger platform for its next stage.

“We have an opportunity to take a business with more than 60 years of history and position it for the next 60,” Hyland said. “We can expand geographically, invest in our people, add capabilities that our industrial customers increasingly need and do it without losing the local culture and relationships that made Lark successful in the first place. That is what made this partnership attractive to us.”

ABOUT LARK ELECTRIC

Founded in 1963 and based in Owensboro, Kentucky, Lark Electric is a commercial and industrial electrical contractor serving customers across Kentucky and the surrounding region. Lark provides commercial and industrial electrical construction, industrial maintenance and service, power distribution, controls and automation and related electrical infrastructure services. The business has expanded through its combination with May Electric and Patterson-Westbrook Electric and is now investing in further regional growth and expanded industrial capabilities.

ABOUT AMERICAN GRIDWORK PARTNERS

Founded in 2024 and based in Nashville, American Gridwork Partners is an infrastructure investment platform partnering with and growing established businesses serving America’s physical economy. The platform has acquired Group Electric and PMT Site and is preparing to announce the addition of a national fiber and cabling business serving military, federal and other mission-critical customers. Backed by strategic, industrial-focused family offices throughout the United States and Europe, American Gridwork Partners invests across power and water infrastructure, electrical, civil construction, fiber and cabling, mission-critical infrastructure and industrial automation. The platform is building a network of specialized infrastructure businesses positioned to benefit from the long-term investment required to modernize America’s infrastructure and support the next industrial revolution.

Learn more at americangridwork.com.

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