LMC’s Anea Scarle was named to HBS Dealer’s Top Women of 2024 list in the Business Excellence category. The Business Excellence award recognizes a leader who has demonstrated achievement, growth and success in the hardware and building supply industry; embraced education and community service, and inspired others to follow a similar path.Anea began her LMC journey in 2000 as a temp and quickly fell in love with the LMC mission. “Once I really started getting into the day-to-day with the dealers, helping them be successful, and contributing to their family business, I fell in love with the industry. “
Like most, Anea had not initially set out to find place in LBM journey, but through her passion and dedication to serving LMC dealers, she created an incredible career. Since 2017, Anea has been LMC’s Department Manager of Exterior Millwork where she leads a team of two buyers and an assistant buyer while oversees a thriving department. For Anea, product expertise is important. The best new product winners at the last three LMC Annuals have largely come from exterior millwork. However, it’s the relationships and the power of building business together that provide the fuel for Anea’s fire.
“The relationships we build are based on trust,” Anea says. “It is a good feeling when a dealer calls me knowing that I can connect them to the right people, even if I don’t personally handle their request.”
“When I pick up the phone and call a dealer and say, I’m from LMC, our dealers trust that I know their business and that I try to bring products and programs that complement their markets as well as offer something new” Anea explains. Anea describes this kind of work as something that comes naturally to her. She has mastered creating and maintaining relationships while connecting people who should connect.
“The connection can even go beyond new programs and opportunities. We often find things we can connect on personally as well. It’s great to be able to ask about their families or their new rescue dog,” Anea says. “All of a sudden, they’re not just business partners but friends and family.”
Anea continues to make strides for Dealers, Suppliers, and LMC as whole. Her impact on the co-op continues as she remarks, “My personal goal is to keep building the culture that I inherited here at LMC, including collaborating with our people and bringing LMC and our dealers even closer together,” Anea says.
To future generations considering joining the industry, Anea says: “Don’t ever think you can’t do it because you don’t have the experience. I came into the industry unknowingly, and I was just looking for a job and nearly 25 years later, I have made a career out of it and made lifelong friends along the way.”
LMC Congratulates Anea on her Business Excellence award and all the women in the LMC network who were also honored.
