John Smit, longtime president of Windsor Windows & Door, will retire at the end of 2010. This transition, as with most, will occur with mixed emotion. People who have worked with John over the past 21 years will sincerely miss him. However, these people are equally pleased to see him have an opportunity to relax and enjoy his family, friends, and passion for golf.
Woodgrain purchased Windsor in 1987 when it was a small regional wood window manufacturer consisting of 60 employees. Reed Dame, the president of Woodgrain at that time, was looking for someone to manage and grow this facet of their business. They were looking for someone who had extensive knowledge of the window manufacturing process along with a keen sense of how to manage and grow a business. They found these unique qualities in John Smit.
John had a clear vision of how to expand this regional window manufacturer into a significant force in the national residential market. In 1992, John facilitated the purchase of Heritage Windows in Monroe, NC. In 1995 he enlarged the Iowa production plant to 150,000 sq. ft. and began producing vinyl products in addition to wood. In 2000, John acquired the Atrium Patio Door Company, located in Greenville, TX. In 2005, a divisional office building was constructed at the West Des Moines, IA, location. A new vinyl production facility was completed in 2006 that included state-of-the-art IG assembly capabilities. During these years, John had grown the window and door division of Woodgrain from 60 to nearly 1000 employees.
The last few years have been difficult in the building industry. Even through these challenging times, John has managed to keep Windsor focused on developing new products, creating continuous improvements to our products, refining business operations and improving production efficiencies. Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment in these past few years is that John has managed to sustained profitability.
Scott Polster, an owner and vice-president of Mason Structural Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, was one of Windsor's first distributors. Scott had the following to say about his longtime friend:
"It has been a long journey but John has finally arrived at his retirement destination. I don't know which has been a more difficult task - to scramble on the golf course and shoot the scores that he does, or to spearhead the growth of Windsor into the company that it has become. John came to Windsor as a systems person when Windsor was in dire need of systems and is leaving a company that has grown so much that he probably doesn't even know all the systems that are in place. Windsor will miss John's analytical, honest and fair-minded approach that has served him so well. John, I wish you good luck, good health and lots of good golf!"
Windsor employees have benefitted from John's sharp accounting skills, extensive knowledge of our industry, and his steadfast leadership in times of prosperity and hardship. He has always focused on making Windsor an enjoyable place to work by caring for the people and placing value on relationships. It is with these qualities that John has guided Windsor to success.
There's a great deal of excitement as the new executive team assumes their roles. Their vision and ideas will take us into the next decade and beyond. But John Smit has left a lasting legacy and fond memories that will never be forgotten.