Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by pg t i University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor, and I am your host.
Speaker 1 00:00:20 So good morning. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are hosted today at Western Window Systems, and we have the privilege of sitting with Mike Wolfy today. Mike, you're the president of the Western Division, right? Yes, I am. That's awesome. Well, thanks for making some time for us today. I'm so grateful to have opportunity to meet you and get to know you a little bit and chat with you. And so we're doing an introduction of all the leadership, as many of the leadership as we could schedule while we're here. And so just give us a brief overview of your background, maybe your career, your education, maybe just a little bit about what you do now, what your responsibilities are.
Speaker 2 00:00:58 Sure. So I'm a chemical engineer by degree. Okay. That was about 35 years ago that I graduated. Proud University of Washington Husky. I've been in some form or fashion in the, the glass and now window to door business for that 35 years. I started my career, uh, with a company called Guardian Industries, uh, big float, uh, manufacturer. And so I worked on the primary side for approximately nine years. Uh, spent a couple years in India in that process, which was, was career-wise, was really eye-opening as far as just, um, how much we have in our world versus theirs, you know? So kind of a real, uh, humbling experience. Uh, you you got to work hard and, and see a lot of things. And then, um, I spent 19 years in, uh, Cardinal Industries. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is one of our suppliers. So that's really how I became familiar with P G T I.
Speaker 2 00:01:54 I got a call in 2005. They had a, an autoclave problem. The division that I ran was the laminating division, and so we kind of met in crisis. And then the second crisis was the downturn. Uh, Jeff and I met in, in 2006. And then we really worked together in different ways, you know, sometimes more, sometimes less, because it certainly was challenging for the next four or five years. But, uh, what it evolved to is when, when PG t I came out of the downturn, they started acquiring companies that Cardinal supplied. So we just became more and more of a supplier customer base. And then I retired for a year and a half in 2018, and, uh, Jeff reached out to me and wanted to know if I was still available and I was in pretty fast fashion. Uh, he offered me the job to come out here and, and lead Western Window Systems, which was pretty much the sum of the Western division.
Speaker 2 00:02:46 Uh, we were fortunate enough to, uh, have the opportunity to do a couple of acquisitions in 2021. So we acquired, uh, one of our dealers, c r I in Southern California. And then in October of last year, we acquired the lan, uh, window doors in Clovis, California. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so that kind of makes up the division today. So we've got, um, a vinyl manufacturer premium, uh, aluminum, indoor outdoor living as western windows. And then, uh, c r I is really our direct to builder, uh, arm, and we continue to, uh, to grow that way. So in that 35 years, I've spent time as a process engineer, as a production supervisor, as production management, and then really spent the last 25, 26 years or so in, in business development, business management. And I think if you look at what my responsibilities are here, it's kind of soup to nuts, you know, from sales p and l, operations, human resources, legal, and I've got a really great team that shares the burden of being able to do all of that. Um, I know that, uh, you know, whenever you, you lead a company or lead a division, everybody's looking for vision. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you sometimes have to step on the gas pedal, sometimes you have to take and step on the brake. So I guess I, I think of that, that's, that's my job, right. You know, you've got the wheel and those two brakes and Right. And you try to take and make sure you grow as fast as you can without breaking the system and um, and make some money doing it. Right.
Speaker 1 00:04:13 That's awesome. And it's an impressive group of people here. Like I love the Western team. It's so fun to be out here this week. So around advice, what is a valuable piece of advice that you've received?
Speaker 2 00:04:26 So I, I was thinking about this question and there's a couple in there. Um, you know, I was a pretty aggressive manager when I first came outta school and, and, and had a lot of initiative. And, and sometimes you, you go really, really strong towards your objective and you often might bypass or run over people. And I was told by somebody that I worked for, he goes, you know, Mike, you're not gonna be able to manage by fear for long, cuz people won't follow you. Mm-hmm. So, you know, there's a maturation that happens, I think just as a person mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, and, and respecting people and understanding what the purpose is and how to take and accomplish something without taking, leaving bodies in the, in the path. Right. Right. And, and with that, and this one, this one was really on, on my third day with a former employer, and this was a senior vice president that, uh, looked at me and he was sizing me up. He goes, Mike, I just want you to know efforts appreciated, results are rewarded. Mm. At the time I thought, wow, that's kind of harsh, but over time what you recognize, it's just the truth.
Speaker 1 00:05:27 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:05:27 <affirmative>. Right. And if we can take and accept the truth and align our activities towards delivering results, we don't get into some of the, I don't know, pitfalls of that jobs can have mm-hmm. <affirmative> because you're, you're taking initiatives to, to drive results.
Speaker 1 00:05:43 Right.
Speaker 2 00:05:44 You know, and I, and I think that, you know, that that fits within our, our, uh, senior management culture, public company culture, and, um, that's table stakes as some people would say.
Speaker 1 00:05:54 Right. That's great. Those are great pieces of advice. I like that. Not to keep you any longer than we already have. We were, we were chatting for half an hour before we realized that we were actually supposed to record our podcast today. It's scheduled for tomorrow, but since you're here Yeah. How do you see P G T I university becoming an asset to the Western family?
Speaker 2 00:06:13 You know, I, I think there's, um, so the, the P G T education process can help us in this acquisition phase that we're in mm-hmm. <affirmative> to be able to sell our story also. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I know that in acquisitions we're building trust. People want to take in, you know, they don't know who we are. I mean, we're in the west coast, PGTs on the East coast, so there's that element mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but also what are our values, you know, how have we been with other acquisitions? It's, it's a big fear on the West coast that somebody likely gem or a jwe will buy you and then they'll basically wipe all of the previous D n A off the, off the charts and you just become kind of this nobody mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it's been one of the successes, I think within, within our, our process is that's not our intent.
Speaker 2 00:06:57 We value the, the uniqueness and the, and the specialness that the company's created in their sometimes 40 years of history. How do we capture that and then add to it rather than write over it. Right. So, so I think that education can help us with that cuz people can go out and on their own time taking, understand what PG t's about. I think from a, from a product standpoint, we have really complex products and the better they get installed and the better that partnership is, the better customer experience we have. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and I really think that every great customer experience is another great sales event. They tell a friend because we have spectacular products and it transforms your home, but if it's gonna create you a bunch of headaches, then people will bypass that. Right. That decision. Right. Um, but if they can get there and have a great customer experience because our dealer partners and us have got such a great education and linked together, then I think we win. Right, right. And everybody's trying to do that same thing.
Speaker 1 00:07:54 Exactly. So. All right. Anything else?
Speaker 2 00:07:56 I, uh, I, it's, I'm, I'm grateful for the team that I get to work with here, and I I agree. I think they're spectacular too.
Speaker 1 00:08:03 Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you for your time, Mike. It was genuinely a pleasure meeting and chatting with you today. Um, so glad that we get to work together.
Speaker 2 00:08:11 Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:08:12 This is fun. Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:08:13 Thank you for coming out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:08:15 Have a good day. Bye. P G T I University is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original Easy Breeze, porch and closure line, then became P G t America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added cgi, C G I C window, Western Windows Systems, new South Windows, echo Windows and doors, and Lynn Windows and doors, and our latest acquisition Martin Garage doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. PPG t i University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
