“Early in my career, I learned that everyone has something to contribute to solving a problem,” said Robert Green, vice president, industrial services at BE&K. “So I quickly learned to listen to people around me and to incorporate as many of their ideas as possible.”

Listening and incorporating the ideas of others makes for a better solution to client needs and it builds teams, too.

“When I listened, it made my team feel like part of the solution, and when it came to executing the work, they were eager to do so,” he said.

As a beginner in the world of work, Green’s job was primarily technical — “related to the performance of engineering and maintenance tasks.”

Over the years, he has grown into the managerial role, “requiring me to become more versed in the financial and human resources aspects of running a business.”

Ability to work with others is equally important at all levels, Green said.

“Regardless of what position one holds, having the ability to successfully interact with people is extremely important to one’s advancement,” he said. “In my current position, having in my ‘skills toolbox’ that technical, managerial and human relations experiences I’ve had over the past 28 years is very helpful.”

A native of Orange Grove, Miss., just down the road from Moss Point where International Paper (IP) was a major industrial employer, it was perfectly ordinary for Green to pursue a career in the pulp and paper industry. But at first he sidestepped the obvious career path. After a four-year tour with the U.S. Marine Corps, Green went back to college at Mississippi State University for a degree in industrial engineering.

Only then did he go back home and take a job with IP, holding various engineering and maintenance positions during his nine years with the hometown company.

In 1988 Green left Moss Point to assume responsibilities as maintenance manager at IP’s paper mill in Oswego, N.Y., and two years later transferred to IP’s Selma, Ala., mill as manager of finished products, responsible for production and maintenance.

He left IP for MacMillan Bloedel, a Canadian paper company with a mill in Pine Hill, Ala., where he worked as operations manager for eight years.

Weyerhaeuser bought the Pine Hill mill from MacMillan Bloedel, and Green went with the new owners, who shifted him to their New Bern, N.C., pulp mill where he served as vice president and site manager.

Green’s biggest career change came in 2005 when he moved from the customer side to the supplier side of the industry, taking his current job as vice president for industrial services with BE&K.

“Having worked for 26 years as a client/customer, I am now on the supplier side of business, exposed to many different industries, each with its own culture and business strategy,” Green said. “Being able to observe and work within these diverse industries has been interesting, challenging at times, yet very rewarding.”

Once again, the ability to listen is paramount, as he endeavors to give his clients what they want and allow them to see the results of their ideas in the solutions he provides. This is the key to success, Green said, and success is important to him.

“My goal is to grow BE&K’s maintenance and reliability division into a $300 million-a-year business,” he said.

While his target is significant, he knows that simply setting the goal is the first step — one that he’s followed throughout his career and encourages younger employees to follow.

“Have personal goals,” he said, “and be willing to perform the foundational work required to attain those goals.”

“Most people respect experience,” he added. “The only way to get meaningful experience in one’s field is to do the work.”

Green learned the value of work and the fun of solving problems way back in his childhood home.

“My dad was a hard working, self sufficient, skilled man who patiently took the time to teach me his crafts. Spending time with him, building and repairing many and varying things, was instrumental in my interest in becoming an engineer,” said Green.

Though his parents weren’t highly educated, they encouraged him to earn a college degree and taught him “hard work as a value and treating people with dignity and respect as a principle.”

Green and his wife, Suzanne, have been married for 24 years and have a 19-year-old son. Green enjoys hunting, shooting sporting clays, hiking, scuba diving and reading.

To learn more, call (205) 972-6688 or e-mail greenr@bek.com.