Southern Wholesalers Association Leader Sees Evolving Industry

Terry Shafer began his life growing up on a ranch near a town called Muleshoe in the Texas panhandle. The childhood lessons of hard work and family led him to follow the path from health care to managing multiple business operations in the trades.

Shafer is in his 20th year as the executive vice president of the Southern Wholesalers Association. He shared his experience in an interview at the association’s annual conference in June.

He draws from his faith and experience to build relationships, and he finds the trade association a great place to meet likeminded people running generational businesses.

“There are several other wholesalers who are here whose fathers are in the business, their grandfathers are in the business, they’re great grandfathers are in the business and they just have transitioned. It’s a beautiful thing to see when these companies are continuing to just grow and expand,” he said.

The relationships create a sense of family in the trades, and connections from conferences or through associations lead to friendships, Shafer said. Several golf, hunting and fishing trips were organized as people got to know each other realized they shared a lot of similar interests.

“If SWA does anything, it’s that we build relationships. That’s one of our principal goals, strengthening the relationships that we have and building bigger and deeper relationships.”

Started as a Counselor

Shafer found his way to the trades after starting a career in managing health care. He settled in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife of 36 years, Susan. Their son, Hayden, is a doctor in Nashville and their daughter, Mary Grace, is a speech pathologist in Texas.

Shafer maintains a role in health care. He’s been a licensed behavioral health counsellor since 2003.

Family history again played a role in his professional transition. Shafer’s father worked in electric distribution early in his work life.

“He started climbing poles when he was a young man and fixing utility lines when storms would come through and just kind of worked his way all the way up to managing electric coops,” Shafer said.

Shafer moved into the trades after his health care job would have required him to relocate and he didn’t feel the timing was good because his family had put down roots in Tennessee. During a Bible study, one of the members mentioned that a fiberoptics company was looking for a general manager, and he got the job. Working in leadership roles in the trades, he gained an appreciation for the industry. He founded PipeLine Management, an operations management firm based in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2005 and he remains in that role.

A personal connection paid off again to land him his role at the SWA. A friend asked him to meet with Bill Kenney of Kenny Pipe in Nashville. Kenny was the president of the association at the time. Shafer credits Kenny with helping him get his first contract with SWA and subsequently mentoring him through his transition.

“These relationships are lifelong relationships. I never intended to be here where I am, but I am here,” he said.

His work with Southern Wholesalers then led to his role as executive vice president with North Central Wholesalers Association in 2011. It represents a smaller geographic area, but Shafer said it’s another great organization to build connections.

Women’s Roles Advance

Shafer sees how relationships are affecting the demographics of the trades. Leaderships groups led by women are drawing in some younger women who are learning how to be technicians.

“They were learning how to sweat pipe. They’re learning how to put in a drain.”

Younger women are also being exposed to smart, strong women in leadership roles that were traditionally held by men, such as purchasing, finance and sales.

Shafer again points to the importance of relationships as the trades evolve. That’s why he believes the SWA is drawing so many people to conferences.

“You know the industry changes. This year we talked about AI, we talked about mergers and acquisitions. You know we talked about human resources issues that exist through generational issues,” he said. “Our industry is continuously changing and so we need to be able to have conversations about them and see where they’re going and try to help our members get a leg up on being able to keep their companies current.”

Terry and Susan Shafer