Johnny and Winkey Parker stand with their family.

Gregory Poole Equipment Company recently celebrated an important milestone for one of the company's most valuable employees — Johnny Parker. Parker has been a full-time employee of the company for 50 years.

He started with the company in 1966, in a trainee position, as part of the company's apprentice program, earning $1.50 an hour. After graduating from Gregory Poole's first apprentice program, Parker served the company as a technician in various capacities for 19 years, and then moved into a management role.

“In today's world, 19 years is a long time for someone to work for the same company, and he did that as a technician for us,” said Damon Magee, product support sales manager of Gregory Poole in Raleigh. “He served as a technician for what some would consider a full career before he went into management.”

His first role in management was the squad leader and supervisor of the company's rebuild center in Raleigh. He served in that position for a few years before taking over as the parts manager of the Fayetteville, N.C., facility, and then as the parts and service manager. He then transitioned to full-time service/branch manager, and held that position for 22 years.

“In January of this year we had a need and a new position that fit him — product support representative for us here supporting the Fayetteville branch,” said Magee.

Gregory Poole Equipment Company specializes in product support and supporting its customers, so it makes sense that one of its top employees will be working as a product support representative. It's another example of how company uses its resources to ensure prompt and effective customer service.

“We have more than 200 technicians in the construction division alone in eastern North Carolina. It's been a great, great asset for us and for our customers. Take for example this facility in Fayetteville — back in the downturn, this facility was one of our busiest, and we were able to move some of those resources from other branches down to work at this facility through those years. We were able to hold on to our technician force during that time. The investment in our technicians alone is a huge investment in how we try to serve our customers.”

This investment in the company's technicians has paid off in the form of great employees like Parker. Greg Poole, president of Gregory Poole Equipment Company, said this is an important milestone for Parker and for his company.

“We're here to celebrate Johnny Parker's 50th anniversary with us, which is a huge milestone. In fact, he's the first employee to reach full-time status for 50 years. The things that come to mind when I think about Johnny is commitment, loyalty to this company, his trustworthiness and his integrity, and all of those happen to be the core values of this company. That's why we have been in business for 65 years, and its what keeps us going everyday. It's been quite a journey for Johnny and quite a journey for us too.”

For more information, visit www.gregorypoole.com.

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