At left: 34-year Associate Tom Schrader, VP of Marketing; At right: 47-year Associate Gary Burress, Authentic Division, Engine Builder.

This week at JASPER, we celebrate the careers of two valued longtime Associates, VP of Marketing and Strategic Planning, Tom Schrader and Authentic Division, Engine Builder Gary Burress.

Tom started with JASPER in 1980 as an Outside Sales Representative. As the story goes, Tom showed up at JASPER founder and then President, Alvin C. Ruxer’s house on Christmas Eve inquiring about a sales job. Mr. Ruxer was so impressed with Tom, he called present-day CEO and Chairman of the Board, Doug Bawel and said, “get over here, there’s this guy at my house that I want you to meet, he said that he wants to be a salesman for us.” The rest is history, over the years Tom introduced JASPER to new industries and established numerous customer relationships as he oversaw the Marketing and Inside Sales Divisions.

In 1967, high-school graduate Gary Burress began his career at JASPER running parts. He became an engine builder and later became a builder for the JASPER Authentic Division. Gary has shared his wealth of knowledge building “the antiques” with the next generation of builders as he looks forward to his retirement. I had a chance to document one of Gary’s final builds this week and during that process I asked him, “how do you know to do that?” He responded with a smile, “47-years of experience, that’s how! – I’m having fun!”

In both Tom and Gary’s word’s of farewell, they shared their excitement for JASPER’s future endeavors and why we should all take advantage of the 401K and other great benefits JASPER has to offer.