SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Barclay, a Yale Material Handling Dealer located on South Clinton Avenue has called the borough home since 1930 and, although the industry might be ever-changing, the staff at the South Plainfield-based company have remained dedicated with many holding their positions for decades.
“At Barclay, we all work together toward the same goal, a strong relationship with our customers. We understand the key to our success lies in our expert team of highly skilled professionals,” said Barclay’s President Bernard E. Saxon who has personally been with the company for the past 23 years.
“Our team is dedicated to our customers and to our company and those who do business with us receive our best. Because of this, we have a very high percentage of customer retention,” Saxon added.
For 90 years, Barclay has specialized in material handling equipment, service, parts, rental, safety training and warehouse products for central and northern New Jersey businesses.
“If you bought a forklift from us 20 years ago, chances are the same people are still here to help you with the purchase of a new one,” said Barclay’s Director of Marketing Justin Chrepta. “We’ve been around for a long time, faced many economic downturns, including the current pandemic, and survived various obstacles. We owe our success to our employees and the family atmosphere here.”
“It makes me very proud to come into work and see the teamwork in action. I am never concerned that something is not being done,” added Saxon, a CPA with public accounting experience who began his tenure with Barclay in 1997.
At that time, Saxon joined the company as CFO and, over the years, assumed an increasingly greater role in managing the day-to-day operations. He was named Barclay’s president in 2017.
“I still have the same passion and love for this company now as I did 23 years ago. I started as the CFO, and before I knew it, they made me President. It happened overnight.” Saxon said.
The same goes for Carolyn Walezak, a lifelong borough resident who began working at Barclay on a part-time basis back in 1999 in the summer of her junior year at South Plainfield High School (SPHS). She obtained this entry into Barclay under the Cooperative Education (Co-op) Program at SPHS. She worked half days as an Administrative Assistant in Accounting and, following graduation, moved to Administrative Sales Team while also attending Rutgers University.
Over the past 21 years, Walezak has put her versatile skills to work in a variety of positions, serving as Lease Administrator, New Equipment Sales Coordinator, Administrative Sales Manager, Sales & Leasing Manager, Safety Training Manager and, since 2016, as Director of Customer Relations and Sales Administration.
“Barclay has provided and fully supported me with several opportunities over the past 20-plus years,” said Walezak.” These opportunities enabled me to grow within our company not only professionally, but personally. I am extremely grateful for this. This is my second home!”
Many of Barclay’s management positions are also held by long-time staff. Will Rusher joined the Barclay family 18 years ago as a Major Account Rep and today serves as the company’s Vice President of Sales while Cassandra Bossen took on a position as an Administrative Service Manager over 14 year ago and today serves as Barclay’s Vice President of Operations of Service & Parts.
Additionally, Human Resources Manager Gayatri Bhise – affectionately known as ‘G’ – started with the company in 2005. At that time, Bhise’s son, Shreyas, had just started kindergarten; today, he also works for Barclay as an Accounting Intern helping with various accounting projects while attending Rutgers University.
“Barclay is like my second family. I enjoy the culture, my co-workers, open communication with management, flexibility, freedom of work, room to grow, extensive learning opportunities, and supportive atmosphere are some of the things that make me love coming in to work every day,” said Bhise.
Although he retired in 2017, former employee Jim Robinson remains the company’s longest tenured employee, joining Barclay in 1967 and serving in equipment sales over his 50-year tenure. Additionally, more than a dozen current Barclay employees have also been with the company for 10-, 20-, 30-, and even 40-years.
Cindy Quinn has worked in Service Administration since 1974; and Road Technicians Gary Mattox and Donald Pearce both took on positions in 1977 while John Zalecki has served as a Parts Representative since 1982. Road Technician John Harper joined in 1984 followed by Ed Bailey in 1989 Frank Bucchieri in 1993; Thomas Kane in 1998 along with Shop Technician Eric Schuhrer in 1994. Additionally, many of Barclay’s staff have been with the company for a decade of more, including Trainer Eric Andricsak (2001), Road Technicans Carlos Acosta (2002), Rashid Osman (2003), Andrew Liebowitz (2003), and Yury Sholudko (2006) with Aftermarket Sales Rep Kevin Beegle joining in 2006 and Parts Shipping/Receiving Coordinator Chris Lochner in 2008.
“Our employees stay at Barclay because they are given the freedom to do their job to the best of their ability while having fun,” said Vice President of Operations Cassandra Bossen. “They love what they do and each other. We are a family. Why would you want to leave that?”=
About Barclay
Barclay, located at 2401 South Clinton Avenue, is currently the region’s premier provider of fleet service, lift trucks, pallet jacks, warehouse equipment, and other material handling solutions for customers in food distribution, ecommerce, retail fulfillment, third party logistics, manufacturing, the beverage industry, and more. In addition to its long-serving home and facilities in the Borough of South Plainfield, Barclay also operates two parts depots – one in Parsippany, NJ and another in Harriman, NY.
For more information on Barclay, visit www.bbfyale.com or visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BBFYale
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