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Ewin Ottinger may be the kind of businessman who gets the most out of membership.
One doesn't encounter many plumbing wholesalers like the George G. Lee Co. anymore. Ferguson Enterprises and Hughes Supply might sell more in pipe fittings each year than this company's total revenues of $3.5 million. Nonetheless, the Norfolk, Va.-based George G. Lee Co. (GGLC) is supplying this year's president of the Southern Wholesalers Association, and there is nobody in a better position to appreciate the advantages of membership.
"Maybe the big companies can do a lot of training on their own, but for someone like me, the educational opportunities gained through SWA have been priceless," says Ewin Ottinger, owner and president of GGLC.
After graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1960 with a degree in industrial management, Ottinger spent some time in the corporate world. He was employed as administrative vice president for a plastics manufacturer when he got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. GGLC, a company that had been around since 1923, became available and Ottinger purchased it in 1978, along with two business partners who departed three years later.
At first the company operated like most plumbing wholesalers in supplying a range of residential and commercial jobs. As the years went by, GGLC narrowed its scope to the point where it concentrates almost exclusively on servicing the maintenance and repair needs of apartment owners and managers. They avoid the high-priced plumbing lines common to the industry. GGLC's shelves are more likely to be filled with the likes of Mansfield, Briggs, B&K faucets and Brass-Craft fittings - along with Bradford-- White water heaters, which Ottinger singles out as "being a great company to deal with."