Company News Archives • Wooster Brush

The Wooster Brush Company Names 10th President

wooadmin — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 18:08:37 +0000

WOOSTER, Ohio—The Wooster Brush Company’s board of directors has elected Ben Maibach to succeed Bill Fagert as the company’s 10th president, effective May 1, 2020. At the same time, Bill Fagert, president since 2010, will become vice chairman of the board of directors. Since joining Wooster Brush in 2014, Ben has served as vice president of national accounts, held a seat on the company’s board of directors, and most recently led the team overseeing Wooster’s rebranding efforts. Ben brings over 20 years of sales and marketing experience to his new role including time as vice president of sales at Waxman Consumer Group as well as multiple sales and marketing roles while at Moen and Newell Rubbermaid. A life-long resident of the company’s namesake city, Ben is a graduate of both Wooster High School and The College of Wooster. He and his wife, Courtney, have been married for 11 years; together they have three children: Benny, Bo, and Cecily. They enjoy spending time together as a family and attending Smithville Brethren Church. Ben serves on the Wooster City School Board Business Advisory Council and is also an Ohuddle Mentor. “On behalf of all our employees, we want to thank Bill for his leadership over the past decade,” Maibach said. “Following Bill as the next president is quite an honor, but we both agree that the success of Wooster Brush has never been about one person. The combined efforts of our 600+ dedicated employees will always be what makes our company great.” As part of this transition, Bill will maintain certain administrative and financial responsibilities while he continues to assist and mentor Ben in his new role. Bill joined The Wooster Brush Company in 1985 and served as the company’s vice president of finance before becoming president. Fagert said, “Ben is the right guy at the right time. He is a bright, proactive, optimistic leader with the skill sets to take Wooster Brush to new, higher levels. Ben has often been involved behind the scenes and is well prepared for his new role.” Scott Rutledge, vice president of marketing, will also be expanding his role as a result of this leadership change. As of May 1, Rutledge will become the new senior vice president of sales and marketing. Scott brings 29 years of Wooster Brush experience to his new position.

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The Wooster Brush Company Launches Bold New Look

wooadmin — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 14:30:47 +0000

WOOSTER, Ohio—The Wooster Brush Company has just announced a newly redesigned logo and product packaging that will hit shelves early next year. A leader in paint applicator innovation, Wooster has been developing tools designed to meet or even exceed the needs of painters for nearly 170 years. This new look refreshes the Wooster brand, offering a cohesive strategy at retail across all channels. The campaign launching to announce these elements is, “Same Great Product, Bold New Look.” “From its beginning, Wooster has made great quality products and that remains the same today,” says Ben Maibach, Vice President of Sales at The Wooster Brush Company. “But, we were seeking ways to better tell our story. We want people to instantly recognize Wooster products and to also understand why to choose Wooster over everyone else—for quality, performance, and results. We believe this new look achieves just that.” The new design boldly embraces red—the company’s primary color. Newly established icons better communicate the key features and benefits of each product. Most notably, the new Wooster logo incorporates a paintbrush into the mark, evoking heritage of the world’s first angle sash brush which was introduced by Wooster in 1937. Wooster products will begin shipping in the bold, new packaging style starting January 1, 2020. For more information on where to buy Wooster paint applicators and accessories, visit woosterbrush.com/where-to-buy/.

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Jerry Barnes Celebrates 50 Years at The Wooster Brush Company

wooadmin — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 12:12:13 +0000

WOOSTER, Ohio – On June 10, 2018, Jerry Barnes reached a historic milestone of 50 years of service with The Wooster Brush Company. A celebratory luncheon for Jerry was hosted by the company on June 1st for all Wooster employees. Jerry applied to The Wooster Brush Company back in 1968 on a recommendation made by one of his Northwestern High School guidance counselors. After an interview with Ed Heckendorn, Wooster offered Jerry a job right away. Jerry admits now that his original plan was to only work for Wooster Brush for eight or ten years until he could start his own auto repair business; he had no idea that those years would quickly evolve into five decades of service. He started as part of stock service in the assembly department. Jerry would take a brief military leave the following February as a member of the Air National Guard. He’s been with Wooster Brush ever since his return from military service. Now 50 years later, he’s a Journeyman Mechanic specializing in industrial machine repair. Jerry also served as a board member for the Wooster Brush Employee Relief Association from 1979–1981. “There has been a lot of change over the years.” Jerry said. “But the biggest change really has to be our facility. I’ve seen our buildings grow and expand so many times from the late 1960s to today.” When he’s not working, Jerry likes to spend time with his wife Sandy, daughter Stacy, three stepchildren: Jessica, Brett, Michelle, and his four grandchildren. He also loves to ride his 2013 Harley-Davidson Road King. “I have 50,000 miles on it already and I’m looking forward to more” he said. “I’ve enjoyed my time here and the people,” Jerry said. “I’ve made a lot of friends. Over the years I have seen many changes. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of troubleshooting and repairing the equipment as our machinery has evolved. It’s been a good experience.” Jerry is the 17th employee in The Wooster Brush Company’s 167-year history to reach 50 years of service. He will begin enjoying retirement June 30, 2018.

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The Wooster Brush Company Celebrates 2018 Service Awards

wooadmin — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:14:56 +0000

Over 450 employees and guests gathered at The College of Wooster Lowry Center on March 17 to celebrate The Wooster Brush Company’s annual service awards. Bill Fagert, company president, and Keith Hancock, vice president of production, presented the tributes. Mike Palmer, human resource manager, served as master of ceremonies. Jim Smith gave the invocation. Very fitting of the St. Patrick’s Day event, the evening’s theme was “Great Employees are Like Four Leaf Clovers — Hard to Find and Lucky to Have.” Palmer said, “When we were coming up with this year’s theme, it was honestly an easy sell. I know, as our H.R. manager, that great employees aren’t always easy to find; we’re lucky to have so many great people in the Wooster Brush family.” Wooster Brush honored 74 employees with traditional milestone anniversaries of 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 45 years at the annual service awards banquet. Also, 2018 is the first time in company history that Wooster Brush also will honor an additional 113 employees (who will be recognized separately) for their 1-, 5- and 10-year anniversaries. Twenty-five years of service is a special milestone at The Wooster Brush Company. Walter A. Reed and Trena L. Sheppard are this year’s inductees to Wooster Brush’s prestigious 25-year club. These two new members bring Wooster’s active 25-year club member count to 135; the current number of retired 25-year club members is 174. As special thanks, both of those employees received an engraved watch personally chosen by the recipient, a silver tie tack or necklace, an engraved paintbrush in a display case, a personalized paint roller, a certificate for a photo-portrait and a stadium blanket woven with the 25-year emblem. Many people may find it difficult to imagine working for the same company for 45 years, but on Saturday, Wooster Brush paid tribute to Jon Bollinger and Deb Shearer for reaching such a historic milestone. Eight recipients received 40-year awards on Saturday, including Judy Bates, Jennifer Edwards, Bob Huxley, Pam Jones, Craig Leighty, Anita Polen, Cindy Ringler and Becky Spiker. Celebrating 30 years of service on Saturday night were Linda Badertscher, Mark Bates, Candy Brown, Mike Humrichouser, Laura Myatt, Kathy Randall, Linda Riggs, Wilma Troyer and Steve Workman. Wooster Brush’s 20 years of service awardees were Barb Bischoff, Linda Cutting, Lynne Derr, Lee Dillon, Jana Dixon, Chris Fair, Ken Field, Bob Hart, Jerelyn Hofstetter, Ed Holt, Brian Klett, Mike McIntire, Marsha Moniger, Patty Mumaw, Steve Riley, Larry Schwartz, Cheryl Steinbauer and Crystal Zuercher. Finally, a group of 35 people were acknowledged for their Wooster Brush milestone of 15 years of service: Jennifer Anderson, Bill Brown, Ron Brown, Sheree Brownson, Jim Byrne, Chris Clow, Lisa Drown, Marilyn Everett, Tony Giauque, Scott Hahn, Zeb Hall, Amy Harper, Barb Hemperly, Josh Hershberger, Pat Jaquet, Jennie Jeffries, Scott Kantenwein, John Kaufman, Shannon Kaufman, Clint Kelly, Ea Kidd, Laurie McCune, Lisa McMillen, John Mendez, Rhonda Pasquariello, Bob Reed, Sharon Rucker, Traci Rush, Kevin Schmid, Lyden Smith, Paula Smith, Dave Steinbach, Rob Tasker, Luanne Waggoner and Keith Whitman. Roughly 620 people are currently employees of The Wooster Brush Company. Because of service records like these, the average length of service for all employees is currently 14 years.

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The Wooster Brush Company Holds a Run/Walk for Hope

wooadmin — Sat, 02 Sep 2017 18:15:57 +0000

On September 2, 2017, The Wooster Brush Company employees gathered at Barnes Preserve to participate in a run/walk to support The Wooster Hope Center. The company’s wellness committee put together a run/walk event and encouraged the employees to bring an item to donate (laundry detergent, diapers, deodorant, body wash, etc.) to The Hope Center as their registration fee. Then they spent an hour of the morning walking and/or running the beautiful one mile path at Barnes Preserve. For every lap completed, each participant received a raffle ticket to be entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes. Everyone went home a winner, and the employees managed to stuff the Wooster Brush van with donations that were delivered to The Wooster Hope Center immediately after the event. The Wooster Brush Company would like to thank the local companies that contributed to the event to help make it a success. They include: Dunham’s Sporting Goods, Durniat Strength, Flex Yoga, HealthPoint, Honey Baked Ham, Manson Automotive, Midtown Massage, Orrville Cycling & Fitness, Planet Fitness, Ride On, Three Seasons Lawn Care, Total Fitness Wooster 24 Hour, and Vertical Runner. The Wooster Hope Center, founded in 2011, is a community outreach ministry of DayBreak Community Church. Their mission is to provide groceries, clothing, hygiene products, diapers, and haircuts in an effort to show love to neighbors in the community that may be in need of some assistance. The Hope Center helps over 10,000 different families in Wayne County annually and has an average of 150+ volunteers monthly that put in over 10,000 hours of volunteer time each year.

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The Wooster Brush Company Commits to Wellness by Walking Across America

wooadmin — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 20:39:23 +0000

As part of The Wooster Brush Company’s commitment to a healthy lifestyle for its employees, the wellness committee created a Walk Across America Challenge, which consisted of walking from our Wooster, OH manufacturing facility to our Reno, NV warehouse. The intent was to encourage employees to participate in a more active lifestyle by increasing their daily steps…and that’s exactly what happened! A total of 138 employees (23 teams with 6 participants each) laced up their walking shoes on March 20, 2017 to embark on their journey to Reno. The starting gun fired and the teams were off to see who could tackle the required 3,958,240 steps to reach the finish line first. After 6 weeks, the first team, The CC’s, crossed the finish line and completed their Walk Across America. That’s an average of 659,707 steps per week! The following week, five more teams, including, The Health Scares, The Walking Rollers and The Red Hot Chili Steppers, found their way to the finish line. The remaining teams continued working hard to complete the challenge, and by week 10, everyone crossed the finish line. In that time, the teams walked a total of 101,679,978 steps or approximately 48,143 miles…almost enough to make the trip around the world TWICE! Today, the participants celebrated with a Walk Across America Finish Line Party. A delicious lunch from a local restaurant, The Spoon, was provided and everyone received a stainless insulated water bottle as a reward for their incredible efforts and participation!

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