A Brief History about Alan
Alan appreciates projects with visible results. Whether it’s mowing his own lawn or selling and delivering lawn mowers around the country, Alan enjoys pausing to admire a job well done. He says, “I want a project where I can actually step back and see it. I like to be able to step back and go, ‘Wow, that’s nice.’ That’s why I’ve always liked mowing lawns.”
As a former engineer, Alan finds as much satisfaction in building a product from scratch as he does in building teams and growing a business. Prior to his time at Walker, Alan worked in a variety of industries from energy to aviation. He likes to stop and wonder at technology and how things work. He says, “I’ve been involved with a lot of projects [from power plants to airplanes]. What I look to most is the ability to build a long-standing, cohesive team. If you can do that, you can work in any industry.”
Alan believes Walker’s focus on people and relationships is what sets the company apart. He also believes in what the Walker Mower can do for people, and how the company functions in the marketplace. He says, “I want to invigorate people to build their business around the Walker Mower because it is unique, it works well, and it allows people to feed their families.” For Alan, the best part of his work is being with people, both in the office and out in the field with customers, dealers and distributors.
Equally at home working a complex math problem or reading a theological tome, Alan’s interests and aptitudes are diverse. His penchant for learning and his varied interests earned him the nickname “Renaissance man'' from his wife. He loves studying the Bible in depth, and pursued his master of arts degree in theological studies because of his involvement in church leadership. Alan says the first and most important thing for him to do each day is to read his Bible. “If you don’t do that,” Alan says, “everything else doesn’t matter.”
Learning to love the Lord and learning to love others is how Alan defines success. He’d like to be thought of as a good dad, a good leader and a good man. Alan’s proudest accomplishment, together with his wife, is raising their children. He says, “I love what my kids have become and how independent and upstanding that they have become. I have to give a lot of credit to my wife for that. That is my wife’s and my most proud achievement.”