Title: President
Company: Reimagine Office Furnishings
Length of FEI sponsorship: 1 year
Work email: [email protected]
Work phone number: (813) 918-1243
Tell us a little bit about your career, educational/professional background and how you got to where you are today.
As a college student at Central Michigan University, I spent every summer as a laborer at my dad’s asphalt company culminating as the supervisor of the SHIT Crew. The name says it all, we did all the jobs that no one else wanted to do. After four summers of 70-hour work weeks, I was ready for a job based on my CMU business degree, so I left Grand Blanc, Michigan for Tampa.
In Tampa, I was hired by the Llorrente brothers to help start Apex Office Products as their first salesman/sales manager. Those from Tampa may remember Hook and Holtzinger. They were our main competitor in 1982. In two years, we surpassed Hook and Holtzinger in revenue and Apex was on their way.
I left Apex to join Hampstead in Clearwater who at the time was a Steelcase Furniture dealer as well as a stationer. After Hampstead was sold to IDS/Livingston’s (Art Stuckey), I left to be sales manager of Hampstead Limited down in the Cayman Islands. This, as you can imagine, was a job of a lifetime. Imagine selling office furniture to The Swiss Bank, CIBC, American Express Bank, Cayman National Bank and then diving in the world’s top dive destination. It was heaven!
In 1988, my wife and I left Cayman and came back to Tampa to buy Mall Office Products, which was in the Franklin Street Mall. Offering same-day delivery of office supplies in downtown Tampa, we quickly grew MOP into a profitable business.
Then, in 1992 when Circle K moved out of its Southeast headquarters in Tampa, we picked up the office furniture and started Refurbished Office Furniture Inc. When ROF became profitable, we sold MOP and concentrated on selling office furniture. Fast forward to today we are now Reimagine Office Furnishings. We sell office furniture in Tampa Bay as well as every state in the Union even Hawaii and the Virgin Islands.
Have you ever done anything out of the ordinary to apply for and/or get a job?
When I was looking in Tampa for my first job, a recruiter got me an interview with Sweda Cash Register Corp. After two interviews, the General Manager told me that I didn’t get the job because I didn’t have any experience selling. That really irked me because he knew that when I had my first interview. I asked my recruiter if I could go over there because I was so mad. He said sure and off I went.
I pleaded my case and got another interview with his boss and got the job. The reason you don’t see this on my resume is that I never took the job. I was two weeks into working at Apex and told Sweda they could keep their car and the salary that was three times what I was making so that I could work with owners that I respected and that needed me. I never got over the General Manager telling me I wasn’t qualified.
What is one piece of information you wish someone had told you when you first started your career?
The kind of people you work for are more important than money. If you work for great leaders, you will learn leadership and have a lifetime of success. I was fortunate to have worked for my dad, Roger Llorente and Denny Diedrick, and have them as my mentors. I will be forever grateful to them for the lessons they taught me.
Why does your company sponsor FEI Tampa Bay Chapter?
A few years ago, four of our clients’ CFOs were in the top five CFOs in Tampa Bay. We figured smart CFOs will trust us to design and furnish offices that are efficient, productive and something that their employees love! This last point is very important today. Our designers spend a lot of time working with our clients to design offices that will entice the work-from-home crowd to get back and be productive.
What are some of your personal hobbies outside of work?
We love nature, so my wife and I moved to Tierra Verde to enjoy all that Florida has to offer. We love to go to the beach, and we frequent Shell Key, Ft. Desoto, Bunces Pass Sand Bar, Egmont, Naked Island and Anna Maria. I also fish and love to golf. I’ve been a golfer for 57 years and have been a member of Avila Country Club for 20 years. I’m still searching for perfect swing and I’m sure one day I’ll find it.