Clear Impact Podcast

We couldn’t cram 40 years of history into one episode, so today we will hear the rest of the story as told by Rod Hershberger. Understanding where we’ve come from is foundational to our success today. Listen in as Rod shares why relationships are so critical to innovation, and his hopes for the future as well.

Drum roll please…. We are so excited to launch our new series, Innovations. I mean, it’s in our name, and we’re going to explore the past, present and future of PGT Innovations. In our first episode, we brought in someone who could tell the story first hand, Rod Hershberger, our Co-Founder and Chairman of our Board. Rod shares a few “redneck” stories of the early days of our company.

We thought it would be fun to chat about additional updates on today’s Clear Impact podcast, so we invited Josh Soto to chat with us. Josh and his team oversee LeadMatch, our lead generation management program. This software, and this conversation, is super helpful for those ready to make the most of their opportunities.

It’s easy to keep up with changes, right? Sometimes, and that’s what this mini-series is all about. Jim Shank and I sat down to share about the newest improvements our team has been working on. This includes a new training platform and our ground-breaking certification program. Listen in as Jim turns the tables on me for this fun and informative conversation.

As we wrap up this series on Workforce of Tomorrow, we talked with Rachel Evans, our Vice President of Human Resources. We talk about today’s current hiring climate, and how to be strategic in planning for your staffing needs. From internship to mentorship, our conversation covers a range of helpful topics around guiding the next generation in their career path. We also hear from our summer interns Andrew Mirau and Mitchell Tosi, about having fresh eyes, and why bringing donuts to work is a good idea!

Collaboration around a shared goal is always a good idea! We venture outside the enterprise today as we sat down with the good folks from Suncoast Technical College in Sarasota County. Speaking with us is Margie DeMauro, Outreach Specialist and Shauna Donahue, Program Manager, both in the Industrial Programs. They shared their approach to filling the labor gaps for Trades in our local area, as well as where similar programs can be found wherever you are.

Creativity is the mother of invention, so when a labor shortage forces us to get creative, we do exactly that. Joining us today is Arianne Spencer, Training Specialist for PGT, and Arianne helps oversee a partnership called Pathways to PGTI. This program is a collaborative effort with a local high school that allows students to explore what working for a manufacturer looks like. For our dealers, this could spark a similar partnership with your high school as well. We also hear from 2 of our interns who were right out of high school and participated in our summer 2021 internship program, Ben Byrd and Andrew Mierau.

On today’s episode, we continue in the Workforce of Tomorrow series with more interns who continue to do great work here as employees now. In the first half, we hear from Christian Freeman, the very talented Graphic Designer, who happened to create the logo for this podcast. In the second half, we chat with McKenna Tanski, who turned her final project as an intern, into a full-time role here at PGTI. McKenna’s passion for stopping Human Trafficking led to all our drivers and sales teams becoming trained through Truckers Against Trafficking.

Trying to corner the market on fresh talent? There’s something really great about helping someone else, like an intern, and then realizing they will actually be helping you. On today’s episode, we hear from current employees who got their beginnings here as interns. Hong Chen, a Senior Engineer in Code Compliance, and Morgan Lingle, a Talent Specialist with our HR Team, joined me for this fun conversation. They shared about staying awake on truck deliveries, and the genius behind Ice Cream Fridays.

Now you’ve heard some of the benefits of having an internship program. But then, how do you actually make it effective for your business? What’s the best way to interact with your intern? Today we are speaking with Stephanie Cz, who has worked with several interns during her career here at PGT Innovations. Stephanie shares some tips to make the experience great for both of you. We also hear from two more of our summer interns, Austin Ham and Alexander Loutchenok.