Bridgeford honored on international stage

The Global DIY Summit held in Berlin, Germany, attracted all the usual suspects from around the European continent and beyond. But it was an American accent that stepped up to receive one of the event’s highlights — the DIY Lifetime Award presentation.

Bridgeford, the former EVP of business development and chief customer officer for Lowe’s Cos., was a keynote speaker at the first Global DIY Summit, held in Brussels in 2011. This time he took the stage to be recognized for his career accomplishments.

In his acceptance speech, Bridgeford told the delegates the importance of networking and how much Lowe’s had learned from best practices from other home improvement companies from around the globe.

Bridgeford joined Lowe’s in 1982 as executive assistant to the chairman; and throughout his 32-year career, he served in a variety of increasingly responsible positions including the SVP for merchandising, marketing and business development. In his role as Lowe’s first head of international business, he pioneered the company’s entry into Canada and Mexico, serving as a critical architect in the earliest stage of Lowe’s most recent acquisition of Rona in Canada.

According to the organizers of the Global DIY Summit, Bridgeford hosted global visitors in North Carolina for more than 30 years. He also initiated Lowe’s involvement in the European DIY Retail Association and was a keynote speaker at the first Global DIY Summit in Brussels in 2011.