The end of one chapter, and beginning of another...
Last Friday, our previous owners Bill and Teri McCauley enjoyed a surprise retirement party thrown by the company. For the past 11 years, Bill and Teri have been majority owners, partnering with Matt McCauley, Shea Pope, and Kris Talley. I had asked the McCauley’s if they ever saw this day coming, given our beginnings…
Rewind back to the first year of Logo Chair… Danielle working diligently like her mother, Matt learning from his father, Bill doing all the ordering and selling, and Teri, well – probably doing accounting and everyone else’s jobs (let’s be real here). And then entered Kris Talley, the overly loud 22 year-old punk ready to chase after the big guys… I mean, really - was retirement ever in sight???
When I rewind back to my first introduction with Logo, I was sitting in Rik Talley’s office discussing the future after college, which was about as blank as this blog before I started typing. Within minutes I adored him, and luckily was called back for what I thought was a shot at a sales position, until Bill laughed and said ‘I think not’ along with Teri being extremely intimidating with her poker face on. I was scared to death, thinking to myself ‘What am I doing here? She hates me…’
After the exciting phone call offering me the job, I was surprised on my first day of work to find the CEO of the company training me in the conference room for two hours one-on-one, discussing everything from our Christian foundation to the nature of our UPC codes. Go figure.
What kind of company does that? A special one.
When someone new walks into our office today, a story is told. It’s evident from the temperament of our employees to the catalogs hanging on the walls showing our product growth each year; it’s a note to a customer along with a batch of Teri’s famous homemade cookies; it’s a flight with Kris on the way to an appointment preaching the gospel vs. reviewing numbers; it’s my husband working in the warehouse after he was laid off vs. being unemployed; it’s even the spoon face-down on top of the napkin next to the coffee pot… It’s the story of who we are. A family-owned, Christ-centered, team-based company where every employee can take pride in the work we do and the people who employ us.
I’m typing this blog using ‘we’ and ‘our’ because Logo is a company we all take ownership of, because we respect our leaders and we’re protective of our culture. We’re all invested, and this is a direct result of the foundations Bill and Teri McCauley have built.
It’s even evident in the leaders that Matt, Shea, and Kris are today and will be in the years to come. And by always holding true to our core values, we will continue to be the honorable company Bill and Teri worked so hard to shape and mold these past 11 years.
I can look back at where we started, and look forward to where we are going.
What a blessing to work at such an amazing company and for such remarkable people.
Congrats to Bill and Teri on their newfound retirement.
I’m sure more golfing and baking are underway even as I'm typing…
