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| Lisa Conway with Father, Friend, Business Partner Tom Belge |
We all may have read blogs or self help articles or books on
“Can You Have it All?” Today I can share
with you an interview with a women who says yes. I don’t think she verbally said yes but her
actions speak louder than words.
Meet Lisa Conway from Pioneer Warehouse. Lisa is second generation at Pioneer
Warehouse in Liverpool, New York. She
makes it all sound easy even with her full plat of being a wife, mother of
three; Jaydon 6, Jacob 4 and Lia 1; daughter, sibling, employee, own
person. I was unsure of which order to
put this in as she is so balanced with work/life life/work there is no
beginning and no end to the statement.
First Job Pioneer?
“My first job here was mainly office work, but I do remember one summer at age
14 when one of our customers needed us to help remedy a mistake that they had
made when preparing their product and I along with another person had to spend an
entire summer adding an ingredient to their product. Which mean basically I started right in with whatever
needed to be done I did it.”
Most memorable thing you
learned from Father?
“One thing, oh my, that is a hard question he has taught me
so much. I think I would have to say the
value of the dollar. He really
instilled that into all of us from a young age.
He always made us work hard for what we have. I worked through high school and college and
I think that really helped a lot with how we live our lives and value what we
have.”.
Most memorable thing
learned from Mother?
“To be strong! When I
was little she never let me be to girly.
She always wanted me to be independent and be able to stand on my own
two feet. On the other hand she taught
us how to be a caregiver by example she took great care of us.”
Who was the greatest inspiration
and influence on you life?
“I can’t pick one person I would definitely say my parents,
absolutely my parents, but both in different ways.”
Company Greatest
Success
“One of the things we pride ourselves on is we keep clients
for years and years and years. I would
say our greatest success is how long we keep our clients. Not only our clients but also our employees our
turnover is very minimal.”
Greatest Personal
Success
“Do you mean besides my family and children because they
would have to be my greatest success? I
have so much to be grateful for. I was
successful before I came back here to the family business in finance and I feel
I have been successful here professionally.”
What is the biggest
thing you have contributed to Pioneer Warehouse since you have been here?
“We recently implemented a warehouse management system. It was a big deal. We use to do everything by hand and excel spreadsheets. I researched it and implemented it and it has
made a world of difference on how we manage our warehouse.”
Supporting the
community?
“We have been part of and a big supporter of the local
transportation club which supports local students and scholarships. We do as much as we can. We participate and support where and when we
can. We support several local children’s
sports teams, employee bowling leagues and other community events like that.”
When did you realize
you emerged from the shadows?
“When I came back to the business I was a little timid
working with the people who had been here for years. It took a couple years before I was confident
to realize I had some really good ideas.
I feel my Dad has really started to trust me with projects, being
innovative and trying to grow the company.
The proof of that is that he feels comfortable taking longer
vacations. He is not handing me the
reins but he is giving me more responsibility.”
Words to live by?
“Be honest and follow your heart. Being a trustworthy business partner is most
important.”
Advice for other
family business future leaders?
“Work hard and be who you are. It is really tough in a family business you
need to earn the respect from everyone, it is not just handed to you because of
who you are. I chose to be here.”
Best thing about
being a family business?
“We are a small family business so the camaraderie and being
able to share in the joy, the ups, the downs and being able to talk to someone
on the fly. I not only have a Dad but I
have a friend and a great coworker. I
really love it. It’s always an open door
policy. I would never be able to share
my ideas and implement so much so quickly in corporate America.”
Worst thing about
being a family business?
“For me I lose myself sometimes, I forget I am talking to my
boss, hard to draw lines. In staff
meetings sometimes I forget that I am talking to the boss and not my dad. Right now we are living with my parents as
our house is being built so we are together all the time. So at the moment it is a little different
than usual.”
Leisure time?
I coach both boys in soccer, I am training for a triathlon,
going to the park with the dogs and the husband and kids. Spending as much time with my family as I
can.”
Do you have a great
story about Pioneer?
“After the big blizzard in the early 90’s our roof caved
in. We had a lot of product in our
warehouse and it was a Friday night. All
of our employees came in, came together and worked together to relocate the
product and clean up. It was weeks of
working long days and nights. They
worked their butts off. They brought
crocks and platters of food with them so they could just continue working long
hours. They (the employees) made it
work. When it was over our company was
stronger than ever. If we didn’t have the support from the employees the
outcome could have been much different.
I wasn’t here then but my dad and his partner at the time Ray Dionne led
them through this.”
What do you see as
the future of Pioneer?
“The future for the company I see is in order fulfillment. Most people know that we do general
warehousing but where I see the future is e commerce. We are a logistics company, from placement of
the orders to the delivery. We pull the
order from the internet, pick them, pack them, ship them and track them. The client doesn’t have to do anything but
take care of their business.”
Succession Planning?
“My succession planning with my father is probably on the 5
year plan. I have been here for about 5
years and have learned a lot and we still have some to go. The one thing that I feel was very important
is that I went away from the family business and did my own thing first. I earned my business degree, worked in real
estate and at Wells Fargo for several years before I came into the business
full time. I would definitely want the
same thing for my children. I would love
it if they wanted to work with me in the future but I will encourage them to go
out and work with others first.”
How do you benefit
from the Family Business Center?
“I have met so many great people. We all have so much more in common than you
would ever think. Surrounding yourself
with like minded people is very important.
I have a jam-packed schedule but making time for peer group discussions
is a great part of the day. After each session
I come back and talk to my father about what I might have learned from my
peers. Maybe not every time but usually
I am able to implement something that someone might have mentioned or suggested
during these sessions.”
Do you have any
comments about the statistic that a large percentage of women will be taking of
their family business in the next decade?
“I have a lot to say about that. Women have so much to offer that is different
than men. We have different
characteristics, different strengths, and different time frames. We take action. There is so much that has not been tapped
into yet that we have to offer. I look
forward to watching my daughter grow and see what she will be able to do.”
Generation: 2nd
Number of Employees: 20
Years with Pioneer: 5
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