Larry was awarded the Turnaround Management Association’s 2019 Small Company Turnaround of the Year Award for the rebuilding of Union Metals Industries Corp. Larry has managed all or large portions of companies for forty years. Most of his early career centered on marketing and sales. From 1990 until the present he has been the chief executive of four (4) companies. In every case taking over during a crisis and turning them around, growing them and making them profitable and sustainable. He has led companies with as few as five (5) employees and as many as 1,400.
As CEO of a one hundred year old textile company, Larry re-created a company with facilities in North Carolina, China and Honduras. A company that was on “life support” in 2002 with sales of $40 million became a thriving, dividend paying $145 million in 2010. Combining sales growth with efficient and talented management team — Larry learned that concern for the company’s health and wellbeing and its associates’ health and wellbeing must be married together or the company will fail. “Reducing healthcare costs dramatically while increasing benefits is not mutually exclusive,” is one of the guiding principles behind Larry’s success.
Larry graduated from Elon University with majors in History and Political Science. He has completed dozens of courses at Kenan Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill and The American Management Association. Larry has served on several private company boards, and dozens of community and non-profit boards. Larry was awarded the “Order of the Long Lead Pine,” North Carolina’s highest civilian honor.