Michael Buckley grew up in Somerville, MA about a mile away from corporate HQ but his road to GIC was not so direct. After graduating from Tufts University, he joined Teach for America, moved to Brooklyn, NY and taught in Bedford-Stuyvesant. After 14 years of NYC teaching and school administration, he sought relief in a new profession: wine and liquor store owner. Twelve years after that, Mike or “Buck” as he’s come to be known in LIC, leveraged his leadership and business experience into the Operations Manager position at Long Island City. Here he learned the insulation and firestop business from former LIC GM and current 3M National Sales Manager Brian Fabrizio and 3M Firestop Specialist Brad Hopkins. Mike later assisted GM Ron Twombly, Jr., who has taken the GM job in Houston (thank you and congrats!) in growing the LIC branch into the profitable branch it is today. Dead stock is at an all-time low. Purchasing in collaboration with neighboring branches has resulted in higher gp’s, lower freight costs and higher inventory turnover. As the Ops Manager, Mike worked with his union warehouse/drivers to efficiently utilize every inch of space in the challenging LIC warehouse. Accuracy, communication, and accountability were stressed and, encouraged by their increasing success, the branch came together as a team.
As of January 1, 2020, Mike assumed the role of General Manager at the Long Island City branch. In the short term, he will be introducing himself personally to many of the personalities to whom he has only spoken. He is looking forward to the challenge of working with the LIC team to keep current customers happy and increase their business, to explore new product lines to help generate greater revenue, and to find new projects and customers to supply.
Please welcome Michael in his new role as General Manager of the Long Island City branch.
