diff --git a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/SlidingWindowCounter.java b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/SlidingWindowCounter.java
index 59bf6d3..23254ad 100644
--- a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/SlidingWindowCounter.java
+++ b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/SlidingWindowCounter.java
@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
+import static java.util.concurrent.Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor;
+import static org.onlab.util.Tools.groupedThreads;
 
 /**
  * Maintains a sliding window of value counts. The sliding window counter is
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@
                 .map(AtomicLong::new)
                 .collect(Collectors.toCollection(ArrayList::new));
 
-        background = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
+        background = newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor(groupedThreads("SlidingWindowCounter", "bg-%d"));
         background.scheduleWithFixedDelay(this::advanceHead, 0,
                                           SLIDE_WINDOW_PERIOD_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
     }