A Culture of International Commitment – USA and Beyond
In our continuing series highlighting the “Culture of Commitment” at General Insulation, this article features two employees that take the culture to a whole new dimension – the international community.
Meet Emilio Rodriguez Jr., Export Sales Manager, Caribbean/Latin America
I was born in Cuba. When the Castro regime took over, my father, a professional businessman, was relegated by the government to the Agricultural Team and found himself cutting sugar cane in the fields. One day he decided he’d had enough. He gathered our family together and made a plan to immigrate to New York City, where his brother lived. As a six year old, I remember soldiers forcefully breaking into our home, making a list of everything we owned while calling my parents “traidores” (traitors) and “guzanos” (worms). When they left, they hung a sign on the outside of our door claiming that this house now belonged to the Cuban government. From that moment on, none of the neighbors talked to the “guzanos”.
In 1969, with just the clothes on our backs and only $200 in cash, my parents took
the three of us kids and left their beloved homeland eventually ending up in New York City where my dad got a job as a janitor at Columbia University. While sweeping floors and emptying the garbage, his work ethic and business savvy caught the attention of his bosses who helped him lease a small building and open up the “Columbia Deli”.
The Deli was my dad’s pride and joy. We all worked there where we learned the lessons of hard work and loyalty. By naming his deli after the very school that helped him, he was paying back the trust they had in him. “When someone offers you a hand up”, he said, “Always pay it back by giving two”.
I grew up and became an aircraft mechanic/flight engineer. I moved to Miami to work for Pan Am, Eastern and Carnival Airlines, all of whom eventually went out of business.
My wife had long recognized my aptitude for sales and encouraged me to go into that field. I left aviation and landed my first job in sales with a residential insulation products company. I was responsible for the entire state of Florida, put 40,000 miles on my car that first year and I loved it. After a few years, however, I was topped out and getting restless. That’s when I met Larry Murphy of General Insulation. I was dropping an order off at the GIC Miami Branch. We hit it off and he mentioned that the branch was looking for a sales person like me.
I went home that night and researched the GIC website. I read Frank Granara’s message about wanting to double the size of the company in 10 years. That got me excited, as I wanted to work for a company with growth potential. At that point GIC had 30 branches. Today it has over 62. I just celebrated my 10th anniversary.
GIC empowers us to make decisions and go outside the lines. I was at the branch one Friday afternoon and ten minutes before closing got a call from a customer who desperately needed product. I told him I’d personally bring it to him. I got my utility trailer, hooked it up to the company truck, loaded the materials and off I went. When I got to the job site, I watched nervously as they hooked a crane up to my trailer full of material, and hauled it up ten stories!
That following Monday my GM Alan McDonald and my VP both thanked me. My customer, Mike Estrada, is still a great customer and today we are best friends. That reinforced to me what my bosses had been telling me – that GIC puts the customer first.
Two years ago Larry and my mentor Mick Clinger approached me about joining them in a new venture for GIC. I gladly jumped on board and am part of the new FIOX (Fabrication, Industrial, OEM and Export) team. It’s exciting to be on the ground floor of this new division whose mission is to expand GIC’s business internationally. I am responsible for sales in the Caribbean, Latin and South American markets.
The basic philosophy that makes GIC a great place to work for me is their Family First approach. While we are expected to work hard, the company wants to make sure our families always come first. Last year my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and my sisters and I moved my parents to Florida to be near us. Since then he has had several mini-strokes. Larry and Mick have been very supportive and encourage me to always have a “Plan B” when I travel, in case I need to get home quickly. To date I’ve only had to cancel one business trip.
I’m glad I can be here for my dad like he was for us. Although proud of my Cuban heritage, I am prouder still of having obtained my American citizenship several years ago and consider myself a Cuban American. I hope one day to be able to include Cuba as a place where GIC is successfully doing business.
I love working for GIC and the opportunities I’ve been given. I appreciate working for a motivated owner who allows us the freedom to do our jobs and supports us when times are tough. It gives me peace of mind to know that if I continue working hard, GIC will be around for me until I retire. We have just begun to scratch the surface of this International Opportunity and I can’t wait to see how far we can take it.
As far as I’m concerned, GIC is the number one company in this industry to work for and I am blessed to be part of this organization.
Meet Dave Adamski, District Manager, Canadian Region
In 2005 I worked for an insulation company in Halifax where I got to know Marc Bernier, my counterpart in the insulation business in the U.S. Through Marc, I experienced the GIC culture and respected how they did business.
The opportunity to work with GIC arose when the company I worked for cut back and left a void in the Canadian market. I immediately called Marc to discuss the opportunity of GIC opening up a branch in the Canadian market.
“Marc”, I said, “Would you be willing to ask Frank Granara, the owner of GIC if he’d be willing to open a Canadian branch?”
Marc agreed to call Frank and shortly after our conversation informed me that Frank was interested and would fly up within the next two weeks to discuss the opportunity. That was how Halifax became the first branch outside of the U.S. and how I became the Branch Manager.
As the new GM for Halifax, there was a large contractor that was not doing any business with GIC so I decided to see how I could gain him as a customer. I knew that as a well-known industry icon in Canada, if we could get his business it would be 
significant. He was a tough sell, but I was persistent. A few months later I heard they were bidding a project that would be a perfect fit for us. Once again, I approached him and this time I told him I would personally coach him through the proposal, no strings attached. He agreed and my team and I put together the proposal, developed marketing material and delivered it to him with no expectation of an order. I knew we were making progress when his assistant called to tell me that whatever we were doing, it was working. She had heard the contractor say, “I can’t believe they are willing to do all this for us and we haven’t bought a lick of material”. Today he is one of our biggest and most loyal customers. We get phone calls from contractors that say, “Danny told me to call you…”
Over the next 6 years the Halifax Branch continually increased sales fulfilling our promise to Frank that we would make him proud of the risk he had taken. By 2011, I found myself getting restless, wanting a change and tendered my resignation. Wanting to thank Frank for the opportunities he’d given me, I called him.
“Dave, what are you doing?” Frank asked. “Are you just bored? Why are you leaving?” I guess I didn’t really give him a good enough reason and he asked if I had accepted another job. I said no. Frank said, “Don’t do anything for a week. Let me call you back.”
True to his word, Frank called back with an opportunity to develop GIC’s industrial division in both Canada and the U.S. I loved the idea and immediately accepted the position as the new Industrial Manager.
Frank explained, “If it were anyone else, I might believe they were strong arming me, but I know you, so I’m giving you this opportunity.” Hearing those words from Frank made me proud.
In 2015 I was selected to undergo the new Leadership Academy. This leadership 
development program proved to me that I had a lot to learn and throughout the two-year program I worked hard to make sure Frank got his money’s worth out of his investment in me. I learned the importance of communication and decision-making. I now have the confidence to be more assertive, speak up in meetings and use my resources. It has definitely helped me improve my relationship with my team.
Shortly after graduating from the Leadership Academy I was once again presented with a new opportunity. GIC had opened two more Canadian Branches and I was asked to become the District Manager for Canada, presiding over the three branches. I was ready. Equipped with the leadership skills I learned during my Leadership Academy journey, I am enjoying my new role.
On a more personal note, GIC was there and supportive during the death of my father. They also welcomed my wife Paula into the mix by hiring her to do the newsletter for a few years. I know if I have a hard time they’ll be there for me. And that starts from the top…Frank not only walks the walk, but he also talks the talk.
The future of GIC depends not just on us selling our products, but developing our people. We have a culture of strength and community. If I had to define it I would say it’s good people, doing a good job and working together. Being a Canadian, I am proud to bring this great culture to Canada. That’s a great reason to come to work every day.