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career profile John Turner (centre) at the Grand Opening of SATA Canada, flanked by Albrecht Kruse, CEO of SATA and Gila Martow, MPP for Thornhill. Turner has developed both handson and entrepreneurial skills over his career. That’s part of why SATA chose him to open the company’s Canadian division in 2017.
Keys to the
Future
For John Turner of SATA Canada, it was education and an open mind By Mike Davey
I
t’s rare for a major international company to open a new office in another country, because it’s a big job. Plans must be carefully made if the new location is to find success. SATA is a major spray gun manufacturer headquartered in Germany, with distribution all around the world. When the company decided to open an official branch in Canada, they turned to John Turner. Today Turner serves as the General Manager of SATA Canada. He was the first employee when the company officially opened for business in early 2017, but the team has since grown to nine people. Turner has first-hand experience with SATA products and spray guns, having worked as a professional painter and technician. His journey into the automotive world began early. “I probably started out at 12 or 13, really, putting bikes and lawn mowers together for my father’s Canadian Tire store,” he says. Turner’s father owned a succession of Canadian Tire stores around the country. In general, his father would start with a small store, grow the business over the next few years, and then sell it and start somewhere else. “I graduated from lawnmowers and bikes
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“If you’ve got the knowledge and you like what you’re doing, you’ll progress quickly.” – John Turner
to doing tires and oil changes at our last Canadian Tire in Listowel, Ontario,” says Turner. “I would have been about 16 when he retired and sold his last Canadian Tire store.” Although his father had retired, Turner still had the automotive itch. He went to high school in the nearby community of Palmerston. That particular high school was also a trade school, so Turner enrolled in the automotive mechanic course in his first year.
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“I rebuilt my first engine in grade 9. I remember it to this day. It was a 225 Slant 6 Chrysler. Our project was to get an engine from a wrecking yard and rebuild it. This engine was seized solid, but when it was finished, it ran and we put it into a car. The friend of mine who got it said it was a great engine.” He clearly had the ability to excel in class, but Turner says he didn’t continue with it. In brief, his early exposure to the business and automotive knowledge meant the basic classes were “too easy.” Don’t think that he left the automotive world behind, though. He wasn’t involved in the high school auto program after grade 9, but he did work at a local garage during high school. Doug’s Auto Service in Harriston is where Turner first got the itch to paint. “I bought a ‘67 Ford pickup that was creamy white and light green,” he says. “It was a really rusty piece of junk. I painted it black, which was just about the worst thing I could do. With black, you see every mistake.” It may have been the “worst thing” at the time, but in hindsight it might have been the right decision, as this paint job led to an interest in bodywork.