Interview with Mar-Kell Seal

The ISD INSIDER sat down with Steve Luhrs of Mar-Kell Seal, ISD’s current Treasurer and member of the Board to get an update on his involvement with ISD.  Here’s what we discovered:

INSIDER: Thanks, Steve, for taking the time to chat with us today.  As ISD’s Treasurer, we wanted to get your perspective on the association, and the direction the Board has been setting recently.  But let’s start with a little information about you. 

Luhrs:  Thank you.  I graduated from Arizona State with a degree in Business, and joined Mar-Kell as an outside sales person covering southern California in 1997, and have been with the company in different roles ever since. Current role is VP of Operations.

INSIDER: Impressive!  Tell us a little about your company.

Luhrs: Our primary markets are consumer products, beverage industry, truck and trailer, and industrial. Mar-Kell started in 1980 and the focus is on engineering, Kan Ban inventory, and VMI ( vendor manage inventory) and have been focused over the past few years on bringing further capabilities of our vendor base to the marketplace.

INSIDER: So when did you join ISD?  And why?

Luhrs: we joined ISD in 2005, to further our networking and involvement in the industry, and I decided to join the board based on a call from Joe Gallagher and invitation to join.  I think that the Board was looking for some new members to join and I thought that it would be good to get involved.   I’m really excited by the board’s commitment to investigating and providing excellent opportunities for distributor education and development, not to mention great networking options for members.

INSIDER: We noticed that 2012 was a banner year for ISD financially – due I’m sure, to your excellent financial leadership!

Luhrs: You bet!  Always nice to be in the black!

INSIDER: Steve – thanks for your time.  Any last thoughts on ISD or any of our programs?

Luhrs: Well, the Summit has been a great arena to really network as well as bring back some key insight and perspectives from the speakers; I’d encourage anyone to consider joining us in beautiful San Diego this September.  I think the next step for us in the coming years will be involvement in the UID, which also promises to provide some excellent returns on our investment.  I hope the members are all getting as much value from their membership as we on the Board do.