Kevin Wallis, known as Kev, is celebrating 40 years working for the trade specialist Sternfenster. Before joining Sternfenster, based in Lincolnshire, Kev had previously worked in the Dutch construction industry.
It was the year in which Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th US president and Bucks Fizz won Eurovision with ‘Making your Mind Up’. And it was also the year that Sternfenster’s in-house technical guru, Kevin Wallis, first handed in his CV to Sternfenster founder Eddie Parczuk. Forty years on, Kev remains an integral part of the Sternfenster team, as Mike Parczuk, who today heads up the trade specialist, explained.
“Kev demonstrates an unwavering commitment to ensuring that our customers, our colleagues and our suppliers are respected, treated fairly and given every ounce of effort to assist them with whatever issue they are faced with at the time. Everyone in Sternfenster owes him a huge debt of gratitude.”
Turning in his CV in Dutch, Kev holds the record for the shortest interview by any Sternfenster employee, according to Eddie Parczuk, who asked: “what does Ik ben hard aan het werk en je moet me een baan geven mean?” Kev replied: “It means that I’m hard working and you should give me a job!”
As technical sales manager, Kev now works across all areas of Sternfenster’s operation, from customer services to manufacturing, including spending a significant part of his day with customers, something he said was one of the most rewarding parts of his role. “My working day is pretty varied but one of the parts of it I like the most is the technical element, either troubleshooting or training, because you’re their working side-by-side with our customers, maybe fixing a problem that someone has struggled with,” he said. “When you help them to find the solution, it’s always really rewarding, even if it is 300mph to get the job.”
“Sternfenster is an amazing company to work for. I started with Eddie and now I’m working with his sons, Mike and Simon, and the values are the same. It’s a business where people take care of each other and our customers.”
