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56 Maritime Professional 3Q 2011IInterview David Turner, Executive Board Member, Pon by Joseph Keefe MARPRO PROFILEIt is tempting to define David Turner?s tenure at Pon with a ?by- the-numbers? approach. As he approaches his 20-year anniversary with the firm, he also counts 13 relo- cations; 7 since joining W&O and five within the last 8 years. His participa-tion in the fivefold increase in business at Pon?s U.S.-based W&O Supply firm is another interesting statistic. The numbers, however, tell only a small fraction of the real story behind one ofAmerica?s brightest maritime execu- tives on the broader global maritime stage.BANKING ON BUSINESS The University of South Carolina graduate (BS ? Accounting) initiallyspent six valuable years in banking, primarily in commercial lendingwhere he rose to Vice President and Commercial Banking Manager. He couldn?t quite see the waterfront from that office, but the time spent honing his financial skills continues to serve him well. Turner himself says, ?Once you understand P&L, cash flow and a balance sheet, you can go to any busi- ness. It was a tremendous learning experience to see companies of all sizes and get a broad look at so many businesses. I looked at how previous decisions had impacted the business, but the most important thing I learned, at a fairly young age, was how impor- tant it was to make a decision. I was able to take those experiences from the bank and transfer them into running alarge business elsewhere.? As it turned out, that business would be W&O. FROM THE GROUND UP At W&O, Turner proved his mettle by starting as a Branch Manager inMobile, Alabama in. His future bosssaid, ?I want you to move to Mobile and I want you to run a branch.? Turner asked, ?Why Mobile?? He replied, ?If you ever want to run this business, you need to learn it from the ground up. You need to visit cus- tomers, ships, engine rooms and youneed to understand all of it.? Turner looks back and admits, ?Going fromcorporate banking to running fouremployees who were doing maybe $65,000 per month in volume was probably the greatest experience I ever had. I unloaded valves from trucks in the early days. Today, when I see these things happening at our company, I can relate to it.? By 1996, Turner had risen to Vice President and National Sales Manager. When Pon acquired the fast-growing firm, Turner would once again get kicked upstairs to his new position of Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing. Now firmly positioned as one of the nation?s largest supplier of valves, pipe, fittings, engineered prod- ucts and automated valve systems for the marine and offshore industries, W&O has 13 nationwide stockinglocations and one international loca-tion in Belgium.W&O AND DAVID TURNER One cannot talk about W&O without also mentioning David Turner. As Turner pushed to change the course of the business back in 2000, valve automation and system integration seemed to be the natural place to go.Turner explains, ?Back then, a ship- yard would go to a manufacturer and buy valves and then turn to another for the actuators and put everything together themselves. When they David Turner Executive Board Member, PON ?Going from corporate banking to running four employees who were doing maybe $65,000 per month in volume was probably the greatest experience I ever had. I unloaded valves from trucks in the early days. Today, when I see these things happening at ourcompany, I can relate to it.? MP #3 (50-64):MP Layouts 8/17/2011 4:44 PM Page 56