After 17 years with Peerless, Operations Manager David Barnas will go on retirement at the end of April.
As a way to say thank you and to reflect on his time our our building, he has shared his reflections and fond memories he had during his time at Peerless.
During my almost seventeen years at Peerless, Inc. I‘ve worked with many talented and hardworking team members. Some of them have moved on to new successful careers in different fields and many are still here, helping the company grow to new levels. It has been fun watching many on our current team advance to new and more challenging positions. I still get great satisfaction when I have an opportunity to help mentor coworkers or to share my experiences with them.
Although I have many fond memories of my time here, my favorite year was the spring of 2017 when we moved our 103 year-old company from its roots in downtown Buffalo to our current location near the airport. That was an important year in our company’s history. We purchased Hi Temp Fabrication, which enhanced our company’s capabilities and products and we moved to a more modern, although smaller building. At the time, our new building was not set up for production, so we had to add resources, equipment and enhance our electrical system before making the physical move. It was a great team effort and we were back up and running in a very short time after moving to our present location.
Another fond memory I have is working with this very generous group of people at Peerless to support our community. We have worked with many charities over the years. I am especially proud of our company providing a local family in need a happy holiday for the past 14 years, with our Adopt a Family Program.
I had a great mentor when I started my career in this industry 45 years ago. He taught me that to be successful you have to treat people with respect, empower them to make decisions, support them, even when the results aren’t exactly what you anticipated and do not be afraid to recognize their achievements. I have tried to follow that advice and believe it has served me well during my career.
I look forward to hearing many great things about Peerless, Inc. in the future.
DB