CEC Facilities Group founder brings firsthand experience scaling specialty contracting operations as Raiven brings AI-powered procurement to the trades

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Raiven, the Agentic Chief Procurement Office for the trades, today announced the appointment of Ray Waddell, founder of CEC Electrical and CEC Facilities Group, to its Board of Directors.

Ray Waddell

Waddell brings nearly two decades of experience building and scaling one of the nation's leading specialty contracting businesses. He founded CEC Electrical in 2009 and grew the company into CEC Facilities Group, a national platform delivering electrical, mechanical and technology infrastructure for mission-critical facilities, including hyperscale data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, healthcare, industrial and commercial markets.

Under Waddell's leadership, CEC grew from a startup into a nationally recognized contractor completing thousands of complex projects across the United States. The company was ultimately acquired by Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL), where Waddell now serves as Strategic Advisor to Sterling's E-Infrastructure Platform.

"Ray has lived the challenges our customers face every day: scaling a contracting business, improving productivity, and protecting margins," said Manoj Puthenveetil, CEO of Raiven. "As we bring Raiven 2.0 to market, his operating perspective and deep understanding of the trades will be incredibly valuable."

The appointment follows the launch of Raiven 2.0, the company's next-generation procurement platform built to help electrical, HVAC and multi-trade contractors make better material purchasing decisions while reducing the administrative work associated with sourcing and procurement.

At the center of the platform is Raiven Best Value™, Raiven's patented technology addresses the many-to -many complexity problem inherent in the Building Trades by evaluating purchasing decisions across factors including price, availability, supplier reliability, lead time, freight, location, customer priorities, etc. Raiven 2.0 users find the best sourcing option without spending hours gathering information or settling for a suboptimal choice. Lowest price is not always the best value.

For Waddell, the opportunity addresses a challenge he has experienced firsthand as an operator.

"Contractors have invested heavily in becoming better at managing labor, projects and field operations, but procurement remains a significant opportunity," said Waddell. "When you are scaling a contracting business, small improvements in how your teams buy materials can translate into meaningful improvements in productivity and margin. What attracted me to Raiven is that the team understands the trades and is applying AI to a very practical business problem with measurable economic value."

Waddell is also the founder of Firefly Capital which invests across artificial intelligence, technology, infrastructure, industrial services, real estate and select private businesses.

"Technology is most valuable when it solves a real operating problem," Waddell added. "Raiven is building for an industry I know well, and I believe there is a substantial opportunity to give contractors procurement capabilities that historically have only been available to much larger enterprises."

Waddell's career has been recognized nationally, including being named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® Southwest Award Winner. He also serves on corporate and advisory boards and is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization Lone Star Chapter.

About Raiven

Raiven is the Agentic Chief Procurement Office for the trades, built for electrical, HVAC and multi-trade contractors. The platform combines trade-specific AI agents, a mobile application, procurement data and insights, Raiven Assist, and a curated supplier network that works alongside contractors' existing supplier relationships.

At the core is Raiven Best Value™, the trades' patented system for value-based procurement decisions. Rather than optimizing for the lowest line-item price, Raiven evaluates each purchasing decision across a dynamic mix of factors including price, availability, supplier reliability, lead time, freight, total cost, customer priorities and more. The result is the best value for the job, not simply the lowest price.

Learn more at Raiven.com.

Media Contact

Jo Jenkins

Raiven

Jo.jenkins@raiven.com

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SOURCE Raiven