Universal Metro, Inc. promotes Sheila Kennedy to President and Scott Arendt to Vice President.

Posted by Universal Metro on

Santa Fe Springs, CA, October 12, 2023 – CEO Dave Triepke has named Sheila Kennedy President of Universal Metro, Inc. (UMI) and Scott Arendt Vice President. “The promotions will help UMI focus on bigger target initiatives and goals”, according to Triepke.

Kennedy joined UMI in January 2016 as a Project Engineer and has served as Director of Operations since January 2018. As Director of Operations, she’s overseen the company’s daily business functions and has been responsible for scaling capabilities as it has grown.

Prior to Universal Metro, Sheila worked at Zickel Flooring in Missouri, where she performed roles on their Accounting, Estimating, and Project Management teams throughout her tenure.

Arendt arrived at UMI in November 2016 as the Director of Sales and Business Development. Since joining, he’s established himself as a trusted partner for vendors and sophisticated buyers and has built a robust network that provides business development opportunities on both regional and national levels.

Prior to UMI, Scott worked as a Senior Executive in Sales and Marketing for Mr. David’s Flooring International (now Diverzify) in Illinois for over 12 years.

Sheila Kennedy
Scott Arendt

UMI staff rallies to support Back-to-School supplies program for the City of Santa Fe Springs

Posted by Alexis Triepke on

Just in time for this school year, the UMI team in Santa Fe Springs came together to donate some much needed school supplies to the community.

Senior Project Coordinator, Barbara Millette, helped rally our staff members making this, “a whole company effort.”

After a huge response from our team, we collected around 8 boxes of school supplies! Luis, our Warehouse Lead, helped bring them to the drop-off center. 

“When we walked in with 2 dollies full and still had to go back for another load. Everyone did a double take and they were so grateful for our contribution,” said Millette.

The city and Mayor of Santa Fe Springs thanked us for donating to Department of Services/Family and Human Services Division’s annual Back to School Backpack program. 

We are happy to support our staff’s commitment to give back, partnering with several great charities and organizations that enrich the communities where we live and work.

UMI voted one of the ‘Best Places to Work’

Posted by Alexis Triepke on

We are proud to announce that Universal Metro, Inc. has been voted by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the Best Places to Work in Los Angeles 2022! We won this award in the Best Small Business category. 

When you consider that there are more than 250,000 businesses operating in Greater LA, this is a tremendous honor and a testament to the “Ideal Team Players” who make Universal Metro a special place to work. 

The nomination process was rigorous, and included an anonymous profile of the business. Our employees were surveyed about the team atmosphere and their own personal experience working at Universal Metro. 

The overall rankings and winners of various ‘Best Places to Work’ categories were unveiled at an August ceremony and appeared in the August 15, 2022 edition of the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Best Places to Work 2022: The Best Small Companies to Work for in Los Angeles

Winners of 2021 Emerging Leaders Award Announced

Posted by Alexis Triepke on

Universal Metro’s Estimation Lead, Victoria Turkich, receives award for young professionals making a difference in flooring

Victoria Turkich“February 2021 — Challenging times require exceptional leadership, and 2020 showed just how critical that can be. Across the country, young men and women in the flooring industry were rising to the challenge, from establishing safety protocols for staff amid a pandemic to helping their communities’ most vulnerable populations, and their creative and thoughtful solutions drew the attention of colleagues and peers.

Each year, the Emerging Leaders Awards recognizes the outstanding talent of people under 40 like these within the dealer/retailer/contractor sector. And this year saw the largest pool of submissions in the award’s history, which was judged by field veterans Ralph Boe and Paul Friederichsen. Among the winners are a president, vice presidents, managers and directors, all of whom are bringing new perspectives and fresh ideas to the flooring world and shaping the future of the industry.

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