40 under 40
Tim Beckett has been an integral and dedicated Townsend Leather Partner for 15 years. Tim has been long recognized by Townsend Leather Partners and every community he is… Full Aritcle
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Tim Beckett has been an integral and dedicated Townsend Leather Partner for 15 years.
Tim has been long recognized by Townsend Leather Partners and every community he is involved with, as a passionate irreplaceable force of greatness. In 2020, one way that recognition took shape was in Tim being awarded as a 40 Under 40 recipient by The Albany Business Review.
This is the third time a Townsend Leather leader has been recognized for this prestigious award, and with the massive projects Tim has been heading up as well as being his 15th Townsend Leather anniversary – it comes at a great time.
Tim was selected as a young professional by The Albany Business Review as someone “who is vital to the capital region by helping make great strides in shaping our community’s future”.
Along with passionate hands in everything Townsend from Sales, Production, Traveling, Team… Tim also spearheaded our growth into The Stitch building and continues to use his keen eyesight to look to the future and build toward it.
Known in equal parts for his seriousness and jokes,
his drive and his care,
his business focus and his sense of fun…
it is no surprise that one of his most memorable quotes is of his love for mullets. Tim is essentially a human-mullet himself and he appreciates that vibe in others as well.
His interview with Albany Business Review is shown below, including his now-famous quote:
What quality do you most value in a colleague or teammate? Someone with a mullet. It is business in the front and party in the back. A teammate that works hard, doesn’t take it too seriously and is ready to have some fun.
That quote and his own business yet fun attitude inspired some of his team to shoot some glamour shots with some seriously fun new fashion. See the short video anniversary tribute to Tim here:
Tim Beckett
Vice president, Townsend Leather
Tim Beckett’s job with Townsend Leather has taken him to 24 countries, the Great Wall of China, a five star hotel in Dubai and the Taj Mahal.
Over the past decade, Beckett and his co-workers have worked with designers of yachts, New Balance sneakers, jets, casinos and Air Force One.
“The pride of being a manufacturer in America is something that a lot of people in the past few decades haven’t been able to realize,” Beckett said. “It is really rewarding to get to see, stay at, fly or even wear some of our products.”
What was your first job? Bailing hay at Model Dairy during the summer. There is nothing like farm work to teach you about work ethic.
What would you tell your 16-year-old self? You don’t want to be labeled as someone with potential. It means you didn’t use and push your abilities to the limit.
What is the biggest future challenge this area should be preparing for? Consolidation of many of the local governments, nonprofits and school districts would spur economic activity and creativity on how we can move forward. We have far too many organizations with overlapping responsibilities and high costs that deter more people from investing back into our communities and retiring here.
What quality do you most value in a colleague or teammate? Someone with a mullet. It is business in the front and party in the back. A teammate that works hard, doesn’t take it too seriously and is ready to have some fun.
What was the toughest choice you made professionally? In 2015, we had to close our sister company, Studio Vizto, a 50-person upholstery company, based in Orlando. The Viz was upholstering custom head of state aircrafts. Market conditions and consolidation ultimately made it unsustainable. The hardest part was letting go of all of the amazing people that we built such close relationships with.
Are you working on any side projects? We just finished renovating our building, The Stitch in Johnstown, for Townsend’s new offices. We are currently renovating other parts of the building for office space. There is more space to lease and we are hopeful to get a brewery or event space on the first floor.
Who are three people, dead or alive, you’d want at your next dinner party? Chris Farley, Michael Jordan and Teddy Roosevelt.
Age: 37
Industry: Manufacturing
Grew up/resides now: Gloversville/Saratoga Springs
Family: Wife, Rose; son, Lars, 8; daughter, Vera, 3
Education: Bachelor’s in business administration, University of New Hampshire, 2004
We talk often in small groups at Townsend Leather about, ‘what will success look like?‘. We strive to put mental imagery and careful words to define our goals – knowing that this definition, the very act of attempting to answer that question, immeasurably increases our chances of meeting that success.
What is interesting is – a success, as defined by Townsend Leather Partners, almost always looks like meeting some measure of a mile-post with the knowledge that we put our everything into it and did so with integrity to our values.
We’ve thought about ‘what does success look like’ for every day at Townsend Leather, and we answered it with – living and loving our values, doing what we do best, and doing it together.
“We are honored to be recognized by our team and the Times Union for another year in a row as a Top Workplace!
What’s even cooler this year is the additional recognition for our Values-based culture. Our values truly are our guiding force and aspirational to us in good times and tough times. We have learned over the years our Values have helped strengthen and improve the company’s longevity, resilience, and fortitude! We celebrate this honor in spirit and from afar, looking forward to the time we can celebrate together as a team!”
– Jared
Townsend Leather President
We do not set out with a Win as the definition of our success, we set out to live our values and live them well enough that others notice it. And that is what is so honoring about the 9 years of awards.
Values Recognition:
Townsend Leather – This company operates by strong values
“Townsend operates on values each and every day from how we reward, manage others, and treat difficult situations. … We have a strong value of family. We all take care of each other.”
Special Recognition:
Clued In Leadership
https://townsendleather.com/2023/lifestyle/top-work-place-2023
Townsend Leather has been recognized as a Top Work Place for the entire greater Capital District region by the Times Union, often receiving special recognition for our focus on values and our leadership. Townsend Leather has even been named THE top workplace in the region 2 times in that span.
Townsend Leather has also been recognized as a Best Place To Work for the entire greater Capital District region by the Albany Business Review for just as many years.
We have a literal award-winning culture because of our focus and attention to each other and each other’s hearts.
See more about the values we hold so dearly, that drives us each day, and each day to success:
https://townsendleather.com/the-townsend-story/mission-and-values
Early this year we also had the honor of being recognized for displaying the ideals, optimism, and hope for the future of our region that were held by economic development leader Edward L. Wilkinson, through receiving the Edward L. Wilkinson Industry of the Year” from the Fulton Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Edward L. Wilkinson Industry of the Year Award given to Townsend Leather
Our leadership is comprised of 3 members of the “40 under 40” winners. Including president and champion of Townsend Leather, Jared Eckler.
https://townsendleather.com/contact/job
We have written and shared and photographed often of our awards and Top/Best Work Places wins over the years. Click around to see some of our highly regarded memories.
50 years ago the first Earth Day was celebrated. A lot has changed since then, a lot has changed this year, a lot had changed just the past couple of weeks! Townsend Leather has always strived to make a positive environmental impact and this year is no different. We didn’t celebrate the way we had planned, but being flexible and dedicated to our values, we still celebrated.
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Re-purpose, then Recycle and HUG A TREE, literally.
In these times, we are all missing the opportunity to hug or high-five each other, so why not instead – HUG A TREE!
All through our annual Earth Week we got out and hugged trees, just taking time to be present in nature. Taking a moment to celebrate and wonder at this big beautiful earth.
Our Earth Day this year was about honoring and celebrating what we have. There is so much we could think about and focus on, of what we don’t have.
But this day, this Earth Week, we focused on being comforted in knowing of the glorious nature that surrounds us, the beauty of Earth, the wonder of nature.
We took a moment to breathe fresh air and put our hands into dirt, our backs against the trunk of a tree, feel the wind on the hairs of our arms, finding a fresh bud just poking out of a branch and holding it in our fingers to study it for a long long minute. Closing our minds to all the ills and worries of the world, turning our phone to do not disturb, and just being present with nature – for a moment.
Perfectly Pebbled is perfectly “green”
Our luxurious and IN STOCK Perfectly Pebbled Cowhide is an Environmentally Friendly Product.
Inspired by the natural highs and lows in beautiful stone pathways, Perfectly Pebbled In-Stock Cowhide reminds us to take comfort in a slow stroll along the riverbank while embracing earth’s beauty around us. Helping to connect the outdoors to the indoors and establish a more approachable feel to any space, these 13 warm earth-tone hues are available in-stock for immediate shipment.
If you would like a virtual look into this new collection to see each color and learn more about Perfectly Pebbled, contact us to see up a time!
[pdf-embedder url=”https://townsendleather.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Perfectly-Pebbled-Cowhide-is-an-Environmentally-Friendly-Product.pdf” title=”Perfectly Pebbled Cowhide is an Environmentally Friendly Product”]
Perfectly Pebbled Cowhide, as seen in Business Jet Interiors Magazine:
http://journal-download.co.uk/digitalmagazines/BJI/BJI01APR2020/page_17.html
Townsend & The Environment
Our process is environmentally friendly from beginning to end starting with our hide selection and raw material. We are transforming a product into a reusable, repairable, high quality, and long-lasting product. https://townsendleather.com/the-townsend-story/townsend-the-environment
With an even deeper focus on health, safety, and efficiency Townsend Leather is back.
Different, but same.
Townsend Leather returns to leather production this week. Making the same beautiful, world-renown, versatile leather we always have. Making it with the same stringent quality-first focus and our same continuous aim of surpassing customers’ expectations.
But, things are different. The world is different.
We have spent time making Personal Protective Equipment for our team and our community. We have established a large dedicated cleaning crew. We have implemented new methods of health assessment and safety. We have gathered new technology and dramatically grown our at-home workforce. We have rearranged workflow both physically and mentally to provide the safest possible work environment and greatest possible efficiency. We are doing things different. But the same.
This week, starting Wednesday, April 15th, Townsend Leather will be starting up production again. Our prepared actions and health-first approach means that none of our changes will impact lead times, we are taking orders and are able to fulfill them. We have already had a team in place to offer immediate shipping on our enormous library of In Stock Leathers and will now be getting orders, CFAs, SKOs, and Sample Requests into the production flow. We are doing this with a paired down staff, keeping 6 feet distance, no meetings, no gatherings, wearing masks, and working in staggered shifts. We are adhering or surpassing all the CDC’s guidelines.
Still producing the same finest leather in the world, but doing it differently.
We have been putting weeks and minds into keeping our team safe. We went on pause to ensure everyone was safe. We are now, cautiously and thoughtfully returning.
Our team looks different and our days look different, but our hearts, our processes, and our work look the same.
If you have a project in the works or just in dream stage, let us know. We are taking orders, we have stock ready to ship, we have a team eager to get back to doing what they love most – making leather.
We are so grateful for the outpouring and continued message of love and support that we have received from so many customers and Townsend Leather fans through all of this. We are so grateful we have the tools, resources, team, and action-minded leadership to put us in a position where we can confidently and healthfully return to work.
We would love to hear from you during this unprecedented time, meet us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany
For anyone looking for some inspiring books, TED Talks, or some pop culture things to check out, cultivated by Jared from last year and the past decade, check out his list from the end of ‘19:
Hey Partners,
I’m no genius, but I sure know how to perspire (😊) and love to be inspired!! Below is my annual list of favorite books and stuff that inspired me over the year as a special edition that includes my favorites from this past decade too.
I hope you enjoy and find something that interests you, my library is always available to all and I am happy to buy copies of these books for anyone and/or host a Ted Talk from the list with your team!!
I wish everyone a Happy and inspired New Year and beyond!
Looking forward to the journey we take together in the next decade!!
– Jared Eckler
[pdf-embedder url=”https://townsendleather.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-Decade-of-Inspiration.pdf” title=”A Decade of Inspiration”]
Townsend Leather is putting our focus on health, safety, community, and customers.
While we keep our main production “on pause”, we are still staying active. We have a team diligently working at cleaning our entire Townsend Leather campus, we have a team working to give customers fast-af-action to ship beautiful In-Stock leathers, and we have our whole company focused on each other and our community finding any ways we can help be a support.
One of the ways we have been doing that is by working with other local companies to cut fabric for much-needed masks.
See a local news clip here:
We would love to hear from you of what you are doing during this unprecedented time, meet us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany
Townsend Leather initiates a slow ramp up, with a focus on safety.
With a steadfast and urgent focus on health and safety, we want you to know Townsend Leather is still your Partner.
The new normal looks different and the future is unknown, but we are remaining flexible, agile, and putting our all into our values of grit and teamwork to find solutions for you, while we remain diligent in health-first operations.
Townsend Leather is utilizing best-possible-health practices to slowly ramp up our production process and investing in new technology to offer quick responses and focused support, starting next week.
What this means:
- Starting April 1st, Townsend Leather will be able to provide quick response and ready-to-ship leather selections from our enormous In-Stock options.
- Townsend Leather production will remain “on pause” until April 3rd, with around 10% of our team active next week, to disinfect our buildings, prep critical operations, and our Remote Team of Partners will be answering emails and finding every solution they can through the remote tools we have available.
- On April 13th, Townsend Leather will start core production processes with a first-wave of returning Partners. CFAs, Strike-Offs, and Sample Requests will start being sent out during this time.
Townsend Leather has been busy preparing for a return to work during this time, as well as,
utilizing our resources to support our Community through cutting fabric for local hospital face-masks (Townsend connected with other local business to gather materials and cut patterns for thousands of fabric face-masks to donate to our local hospital),
our Partners through paid-time-off (Townsend has been offering full pay to all Townsend Partners through this unprecedented period of pause, a challenge to maintain, but an important one for Townsend’s leadership to act on – our family of Townsend Leather Partner’s/employee’s health and future is of the utmost importance),
our State by adhering to the policies and best-practices outlined by our Governor (Townsend Leather, evaluated our “essential” status and even though we could work, we knew we wanted to put safety first and go “on pause” with the rest of the state),
and our Customers by putting focus to the future and attentive planning (In-stock available April 1st for immediate shipment, implementation of an active remote team, and a ramp-up of production in coming weeks).
We are all lucky to truly love the work we do and a part of all of us is grieving that we cannot carry on as normally. But our current steps of action and care will make the future even sweeter when we surmount these challenges and see brighter days.
We will get there, together.
Please reach out to your customer service rep or info@townsendleather.com for further questions or messages.
We will stay connected and communicate as often as we can with any updates or changes. You can stay connected to us via Facebook, www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany
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