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Chartier honored for life's work

Allan Chartier awarded the ISA American Eagle Lifetime Achievement Award

By Rich Vurva

Left to right: Evan, Lynda, Jennifer (Stolp) and Darin Chartier accepted the American Eagle Lifetime Achievement Award at the ISA Product Show & Conference in San Diego.

Had he survived to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award in person from the Industrial Supply Association, Allan Chartier likely would have been embarrassed by the attention. A humble man despite his professional and personal successes, he preferred to share accolades with employees and colleagues. In conversations, he’d rather ask about the well-being of the person he was speaking with than talk about himself.

He began his career in the industrial supply industry in the 1970s.

Richard Cohen, former president of Minnesota Industrial Tools of Minneapolis, who gave Chartier his first sales job in the industrial distribution industry, remembers him as a man of integrity. Chartier quickly moved from a top salesman to branch manager of MIT’s Omaha location. “It was Allan’s ability to act as a salesman and implement tactically – while maintaining the strategic integrity of our business plan – that made him a natural choice to lead our Nebraska facility,” Cohen said.

His wife of 46 years, Lynda, was actively involved in the business. “From the day he started working at MIT as a salesman, I was his secretary at home, taking all of the phone calls and doing all of the quotes,” she said. Asked by friends if it was difficult to work so closely with her husband, she would typically respond, “I always knew that he was the boss at the office.” And he would finish her sentence by saying, “. . . and I knew that she was the boss at home.”

Chartier became majority stockholder, president and CEO of Omaha-based Midwest Industrial Tools Inc. when the parent company sold its branch operations. Throughout his career, he held positions on many executive boards and industry committees, including serving as president of the Central States Industrial Distribution Association, the Industrial Distribution Association, and chairman of the American Machine Tool Distributors Association. He was the only industry professional to serve in the top role of all three organizations.

“Of all the organizations he was involved in, Central States, I.D.A. and ISA were special to him. He was proud of being involved in the movement over the years to bring these organizations together and foster the collaborative spirit and opportunities available to the membership today,” said his oldest son, Darin, who accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award with his family at the ISA Product Show & Conference in early June.

Long-time friend Lee Eagan of Oliver Van Horn Co. in New Orleans credits Chartier and former 3M executive Dick McGrath for helping to hold together an industry association in the early 1990s when friction between manufacturers and distributors threatened to tear it apart. “Had Allan and Dick not been together and worked to prevent the derailment of the association, many companies would have suffered and been unable to deal with the challenges ahead,” Eagan said.

He was also chairman of the ISD network of Affiliated Distributors, chaired the ISA Education Foundation board of trustees, served on numerous supplier advisory boards and councils, and was active in his local community.

A strong supporter of education, he served on the Industrial Advisory Committee for the University of Nebraska-Omaha College of Engineering; the President’s Entrepreneurial Advisory Council for Bellevue University; and the University of Alabama-Birmingham Industrial Distribution Steering Committee. While on the ISA Education Task Force, he enjoyed visiting colleges to notify the winners of the Gary L. Buffington Memorial Scholarship.

“He loved mentoring. It didn’t matter if it was a young student or a lifetime friend, if they called, he always had time to talk to them and help them any way he could,” said Lynda Chartier.

The ISA Education Foundation is creating the Allan W. Chartier Scholarship in his memory to offer financial assistance to industry professionals who wish to further their education in a two- or four-year degree program. “The scholarship will provide an opportunity to foster the continuing education of a professional in an industry that meant so much to him,” said Darin Chartier.

Former AMTDA president Ralph Nappi recalls that anyone who ever shook Chartier’s hand was impressed with his strong handshake. “Yet his mental and emotional state was even stronger than his grip. I watched and learned how he ran his business, engaged with his colleagues and led his family,” Nappi said. In a phone conversation a week before Chartier’s death in March at the age of 67, Nappi said that Chartier demonstrated his penchant for deflecting attention away from himself. “In his eyes, the call was about me, not him, even though we both knew this was the last time we would talk,” Nappi said.

“Allan was known as a hard worker and was well respected by everyone in the industrial distribution community. He managed a very successful industrial distribution business for many years, mentored many young people in the industrial distribution space and actively gave back to the industry with his leadership roles,” said David Crawford, senior vice president of DGI Supply, which acquired MIT in 2011.

Chartier remained on staff at MIT to help through the transition process after the sale of the company. In May 2012, when his cancer had already been diagnosed, he left the company to spend time with his wife and family.

As a collector of eagle statuettes and photos, Chartier would admire the crystal American Eagle on display in the home that he and Lynda shared. But he would also be slightly embarrassed by it. “He would be very honored but very humble about it,” said Lynda Chartier. “He wouldn’t think he deserved it as much as someone else.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Industrial Supply magazine. Copyright 2013, Direct Business Media.

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