Behind the Brand: AGNORA
In May 2019, Kensington Capital added AGNORA, a globally recognized customer service company within the oversized architectural glass industry into our portfolio. AGNORA as a company has an outstanding reputation in the glass industry, known for exceeding customer expectations on quality and turn-around time. Formerly known as Barber Glass, Richard Wilson, the current President renamed the company to AGNORA (Architectural Glass North America) back in 2011. Ever since then, the company has been gaining momentum by undergoing rapid expansion resulting in increase in sales.
Wilson has been identified as one of the glass and glazing industry’s most influential people. Wilson said that what makes AGNORA stand out is attributed to the employees and the company’s focus on customer service.
“Since we are not a commodity supplier but a custom fabricator, the demand for higher quality and quick turn-around from our customers has always been delivered by our team.” Wilson said.
“The goal has always been to take care of our customers, by doing exactly what we have promised and to always deliver a high-quality product.”
Aside from being a customer-centric company, building the right culture has always been important for AGNORA, and is also a key ingredient that contributes to the company’s overall success.
“We try to avoid titles; we don’t like titles here. Our success is because of everyone in the company. When new employees are hired, they spend 3 months in a mentorship program to determine if they are a fit and can become a part of the team. At the end of the day, when people work in a great environment, they will do a great job.”
The company’s focus on health and wellness was also translated into actions. Some perks that AGNORA offers to its employees is having access to a full-time RMT and a physician that makes a visit every other week. In addition, a fully equipped gym, fitness classes and a full-time personal trainer, all at no cost to the employee. The center of the office is decorated by a glass ping-pong table in the middle with a ‘Wallyball’ court in the back of the plant.
Wilson notes “Originally Managing Director, Martin Kent and Senior Vice President, Kirk Hamilton from Kensington Capital Partners came to have a chat with us about customer service. The more we chatted with them, the more we realized how many values we shared and it got us excited to continue the discussion”. From the initial discussion in November, to the deal closing in April, the communication between Kensington was consistent and open.
Per AGNORA’s CFO Brad Miller, “Kensington has been great to work with. We developed a rapport with them early on and had the sense from the start that they really wanted to understand what made AGNORA special by understanding the story behind the numbers instead of the numbers alone.
We are truly excited about what is to come for AGNORA.
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