A Tribute to the Late Gene Toombs III

By Joe Kannapell

Gene Toombs, the man who made MiTek, passed away suddenly September 25. He was 79 years old. When he came to us at age 49, there was no MiTek, just a conflicted company offering old software and obsolete machines. How could he help us, I wondered, when I first met him at our failing plant in Wilmington, NC? He had zero industry experience and was up against 25-year vets like Charlie Harnden at Alpine. But I quickly found out.

Gene’s first foray in the field was with me, and he began with a bang. He connected instantly with Carroll Shoffner, a giant in our industry who had never considered buying from us. Later, he listened intently to another CM who cataloged our software deficiencies. That sales call foreshadowed Gene’s laser-like focus on our software.

All of us insiders knew that our 20-year-old software was at a dead end, but only Gene had the courage to discard it. Further, with no hard evidence and only his keen instincts, he took a flier on a brand-new product, Microsoft Windows. And finally, he lined up all of our resources to get a brand-new program completed in record time. Though these gutsy decisions gave us a solid foundation, they weren’t enough to give us a large enough customer base. To do that we needed a lot more business.

Since we didn’t have the cash to gain a Shoffner-sized account, Gene began gobbling up some smaller competitors. And he did it with unusual aplomb. Unlike our main competitor, Gene made every acquired associate a respected colleague. We all wore shirts embroidered with both business names. And we rarely, if ever, lost one of their customers. But much more impactful was the experienced talent he infused into our company. This new blood gave us a fresh perspective on the direction we needed to take. Clearly, we were on a roll, but then disaster nearly struck.

Our owner, Rexam Inc., put us on the chopping block in 2001. Gene feared we would likely be absorbed into some conglomerate, becoming the veritable “flea on an elephant.” Or, even worse, we’d be acquired by a private equity firm that would drain us of needed cash. That’s when Gene accomplished the impossible entirely on his own. He inspired the world’s greatest investor to take stock in a nearly unfathomable business. And he convinced Mr. Buffett to do something he had never done: to allow some of us to acquire 10% of the stock in MiTek.

With that singular accomplishment, Gene turned on the afterburners, ploughing tens of millions more into acquisitions and software, even into the teeth of the great recession. And he also set the stage for MiTek’s future, inking a software alliance with Weyerhaeuser, the leading timber company. Thus, Gene not only made us the dominant player in our industry, but he also gave us the ability to become a supplier to the giant home building industry.

Gene had a towering influence on our industry. Yet he was able to deal with the self-taught “bull in a china shop” as successfully as he could deal with the titans of industry. His prescient decision making was without parallel. He was extraordinarily gifted in both buying and selling.