As Steve Burke retires after a 40 year long career with Larson-Juhl, 4walls pays tribute to a man who has made a huge contribution to the success of the business and has made many, many friends along the way. He joined the business on 2nd February 1981. We start with some words from chief operating officer Mike Brown: “In his career firstly with Arqadia and more recently as part of Larson-Juhl, Steve has constantly focussed on responding to our customers’ changing needs. He has been able to do this because he has always used his 40 years’ experience to look forward and not backwards. Rarely has he said to me:
“This is the way we do things”, he is more likely to say “framers would see a benefit to their business if Larson-Juhl could do it this way”. This attitude has always kept me and the rest of the LJ team on our toes. In the last few years, Steve has been instrumental in getting Larson-Juhl globally where it is today and I hope he continues to give us the benefit of his wisdom in the future as a consultant.”
WE’LL MISS YOU, STEVE! | Partnerships Larson-Juhl’s success over the years has very much been down to working in partnership with our customers and Steve has been responsible for developing literally thousands of great relationships, which have benefitted both framers and Larson-Juhl. Duncan McDonald of All About Framing first met Steve when he visited his newly opened corner shop Sunflower Framing in 1997. “From the first meeting, we hit it off,” says Duncan.
“From that day onwards, Steve kept in touch, called in, rang me for a chat. We would meet at trade shows and Fine Art Trade Guild events. And for every new venture, Steve has been a brilliant sounding board. His knowledge of the industry is vast and very in-depth. It really has been invaluable. There is a real loyalty between our two businesses, which has developed over 23 years. Steve has had a very positive impact on my business - although I won’t miss his awful jokes! We have actually become really good friends, so we will certainly keep in touch.”
Washington Green’s 25th anniversary is celebrated on pages 12 and 13 and this was another major customer that originally came about from Steve meeting Glyn Washington and Paul Green at the NEC Spring Fair.
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