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Faces of Interface Featuring Richard Snelson

Richard Snelson, president of Measurements Incorporated, is the leader of our outstanding manufacturers’ representative firm serving the Mid-Atlantic coast of the US. The origin of the company, that supports customers in this region with application solutions for structural, material, and environmental testing, is an intriguing story.

In this new Faces of Interface feature, Richard highlights one of his favorite projects and provides his thoughts on representing the most reliable and accurate force measurement products in the industry from Interface.

Richard grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was brought up hearing all about his ‘old man’ and the incredible work he got to do with customers across the technology landscape. His father and two partners started Measurements Incorporated in 1976. The company had spun out of another company called Micro Measurements. At that time, they sold a limited range of product lines to a wide range of customers. Some of the most memorable customers Richard would hear about from his dad included those that worked with bridges, battle tanks and even cadavers.

After high school, Richard attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he would go on to earn a split degree in business, marketing, and management. During his college years, Richard also received a ton of career experience working multiple jobs. His summers were spent as a technician in the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, where his role include working on a reactor. He also worked on the Brooklyn Bridge, replacing cables on the massive structure, as well as working for a friend of his dad in the oil and gas industry. These jobs not only put Richard through college, but they also exposed him to hands-on experience working with organizations and on projects like what his dad would talk about at home when he was growing up.

The experiences and incredible stories he was told throughout his youth pushed Richard to accept a role working for his father’s company. He started out selling one product line, XY plotters, to major test labs and facilities across the Mid-Atlantic. After finding a great deal of success, Richard was given the entire state of Delaware to sell every product line in the company’s portfolio. This eventually expanded into Pennsylvania and Maryland.

As he grew his expertise as a sales rep at Measurements Incorporated, Richard also began buying out the other two owners as they retired and eventually retained sole ownership of the company in 2003. Today the company carries an ever-expanding product line of test and measurement equipment and serves some of the most reputable organizations across multiple industries including, aerospace, defense, medical, industrial, and more.

I put myself in the customer’s place and offer a complete solution, sometimes reminding them of things they might not initially think of and the end result is that we are all successful.” Richard Snelson, president of Measurements, Incorporated.

Like his father, Richard has also collected many of his own fun, interesting, and sometimes incredibly nerve-racking stories. Among his favorite are the two times he was asked to head over to One World Trade Center to oversee installation equipment and then later assess a challenge with a sensor on the building’s enormous spire on the very top. Richard and few other men from the company charged with some of the tower’s maintenance and caretaking went up to the top together. During the assessment, Richard and the maintenance company’s president were tasked with repelling up the spire to identify and fix the sensor. Richard enjoyed an unforgettable experience and got a sweat-inducing picture in the process that you can see in his photo above!

Richard has a long-time relationship with Interface that began in 2006. He raves about the quality of the brand and the confidence he and his customers have in the accuracy and reliability of our force measurement sensors. He has great respect for the people he works with regularly, including his Regional Sales Director, Elliot Speidell. Richard often finds himself identifying the signature blue paint job on our load sensors during customer facility tours. He’s proud that he’s able to offer the industry’s leading force measurement solutions to some of the world’s most prominent organizations.

When he’s not dangling off one of the tallest buildings in the world or helping solve key customer challenges with a bevy of critical instrumentation, Richard enjoys time spent with family, his wife of 36 years Tracey, their two children Courtney and Derek, and their grandson Everett. The family loves to spend their time outdoors and can often be found sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.  Richard also enjoys recreational shooting and cruising around on his motorcycle.

We couldn’t have asked for a better partner in Richard and his team at Measurements Incorporated. We are happy to share his story. Looking for more Faces of Interfaces? Go check out our ForceLeaders here.

 

Faces of Interface Featuring John Guy

John Guy, managing partner at Stress Analysis Services, is the second profile showcasing our outstanding network of manufacturer’s representatives. Interface values the relationships we have with our manufacturer’s reps, and we consider them a integral part of the Interface family.

John grew up in Whitehouse, Ohio, and was exposed to the engineering and DIY lifestyle at a young age. His father owned a sheet metal contracting business and his parents built their own house. Through this exposure, John discovered his aptitude for mechanics and electrical.

Beginning in his freshman year of high school John worked summers and weekends for an HVAC contractor, electrical contractor, and ultimately for a manufacturer of packaging machinery where he learned relay-ladder logic controls.   After graduating from high school in 1979, he enrolled at the University of Toledo in pursuit of a degree in electrical engineering and began working as an electrical designer for AVCA Corporation, an engineering firm. One of the big projects he was tasked with was designing a ladle control system which led to System & Specialty Controls (the control panel contractor) offering him a job in technical sales in 1981. It didn’t take long for John to recognize that technical sales was his true calling.

In June 1983, John joined Smith Instruments, a manufacturers’ rep for process instrumentation and transducers, as a sales engineer.  This position became his first foray into the world sensors, selling solutions to a wide variety of industries.  During this time John grew his technical knowledge and developed a deep understanding of the importance of serving customers.

In June of 1987, the founder of Stress Analysis Services (SAS), Bruce Davey, recruited John to join his company as a sales engineer covering Southern Michigan and NW Ohio.  In November of 1987, after a tour with GE and the semiconductor industry, Bruce’s son Mark joined SAS first as a sales engineer and soon thereafter as sales manager.

In 1995 Bruce retired and Mark purchased SAS.  By this time John had positioned himself as the top sales performer in the company, one that Mark wanted to keep on his team, so in 1998 he was promoted to managing partner and ultimately earned an equity position in SAS.

From its’ beginning in 1966, SAS has represented Vishay/VPG Micro-Measurements strain gages and strain gage-based transducer manufacturers including Lebow (where Richard Caris, the founder of Interface once worked). Interface and Stress Analysis Services had been acquainted for years, but in 2005 when Honeywell acquired Lebow it turned out to be the perfect time to partner.

Today, John, Mark, and the Stress Analysis Services team of 11 sales engineers that sell Interface force and torque products in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Illinois, and Wisconsin. SAS serves a wide variety of both OEM and end-user test & measurement customers in the automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, and medical markets.

What John appreciates most about Interface is their reputation for performance and quality. He mentioned that Interface built their reputation in the aerospace industry and weren’t very well-known in the other industries located in the Midwest when SAS started representing the line as part of their overall sensor, instrumentation and service offerings. Through the strong partnership between Interface and SAS working as a team in the region, Interface is now known as a top manufacturer of precision quality products and force measurement solutions available from Stress Analysis Services.

“Over the past 15 years Interface has worked with us to build their global brand across all industries.  That success has been built by developing close rep/customer relationships and a commitment to respond quickly to customers’ challenges with innovative products and sometimes custom solutions.” – John Guy

When John is not working with some of the largest automotive providers and OEM customers, he can be found spending time with his wife, two daughters and wonderful grandchildren.  John’s eldest daughter is special education teacher and is married with three children. His youngest daughter actually works for John at SAS as a sales engineer and is currently pregnant with her first – congratulations!

John and his wife Janet enjoy biking around Ohio and Michigan together usually logging about 140 miles per week on their Cannondale road racing tandem.  John is also an avid tennis player, play 3+ times per week and captaining a USTA team.

In our Faces of Interface interview, John ended our conversation with a quick note recognizing his outstanding team at Stress Analysis Services, saying he appreciates their hard work, dedication, and commitment to putting the customer first. We couldn’t agree more and certainly appreciate our extended family at SAS!

We are committed in working hand-in-hand with our representatives in helping Interface customers get the exact products that match their precise requirements. We truly couldn’t have gained the success and notoriety Interface has earned as a leader in force measurement solutions without our expert representatives around the world.

Tune in to our blog at www.interfaceforce.com/blog/ every month for another Faces of Interface profile. We love putting these together and hope that you enjoy learning about the outstanding people that keep us going strong!