Steve Wyman

Territory Manager & Dean of Students, 1998

My family has a shipbuilding tradition, so I’ve always had an interest in the process of woodworking. But I took a slight detour into journalism as my profession before I got here. Interestingly, I realized that when you write a story for a newspaper, no matter how good it is, it quickly disappears, then you need to write the next one. Conversely, when you work with wood, you’re creating something that can be admired and lived with every day. What I love doing is conceiving new designs. For example, a conference table that will seat 35 people or high chairs for a customer’s grandchildren. The whole creative exercise stretches you — What will the piece look like? How will we make it? How will we get it to the customer? These are the questions that make coming to work every day so enjoyable. “The Customer in Residence program is my favorite thing to do. Working with customers to build their own heirloom is so unique, and I’ve made many new friends from all over the world doing it.”