AGNORA – Architectural Glass North America is the feature article, AGNORA To The Rescue and on the Front Cover of Glass Canada’s June 2012 issue.
Glass Canada’s Patrick Flannery covers the beginnings of AGNORA, Architectural Glass North America
From the Glass Canada Article
Wilson’s purchase of the Barber plant was the stuff of high drama. Ever since Barber announced it was going into receivership, Collingwood’s economic development office had been in overdrive trying to find a buyer who would keep the glass production operations in town. When they contacted Wilson initially, he was only interested in a minor partnership because it looked like control of the operation would be diffused over many stakeholders and he is, by his own admission, “not a big partnership guy.” The Collingwood team managed to get a group of buyers in place, but one of the major investors dropped out literally the weekend before the sale was to take place. With the auction date looming, Barber’s operations manager, Jeff Wilkins, urged Wilson to step in. Finally, the day before the auction, Wilson called Gord Tozer, one of the major investors from the original group, as he was flying to Calgary. “I said, ‘Look, I think this is a good business,” Wilson remembers. “I have a strong background in the industry and I have already got pre-sold stuff to buy. I want to make an offer. Will you go partners with me?’ And I didn’t even know the guy. I had met Gord twice but for about half an hour each time. But he is the type of guy who will do things on a handshake. And not knowing the guy, nothing in writing, he said, ‘Yes,’ so I gave them a million and a half, non-refundable.” Wilson says the partnership works well because Tozer has approached his stake in the company as an investment, while Wilson is more interested in marketing and company-building, leaving operations to his general manager, Wilkins. “I am the sales portion of it, Jeff is operations and Gord is the guy who keeps us grounded with financials,” he explains. “So between the three of us we are a fantastic team.” – Read the full article.
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