people in the news Mervenne Named Vice President of Burco Elisabeth Mervenne has been promoted to vice president of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Burco Inc. Previously, she served as vice president of marketing. She joined the company in 1994 as consultant and went on to serve as marketing manager. "My new role at Burco gives me an opportunity to work with all disciplines within our business," she says. "Working on macro strategic planning, I look forward to embracing this new position and further contributing to the success and future of our company while meeting the needs of our customers." Looking to 2014, Mervenne says the company is developing some new marketing material to help retailers promote their automotive mirror replacement service, as well as developing new windshield rack products and a new Window Glo program. Oeftering Celebrates 25th Anniversary Mainstreet Computers recently recognized the 25th anniversary of one of its key employees – Bill Oeftering, product development programmer. "Bill has been a great friend to me personally and an invaluable asset to Mainstreet Computers," says David Carnahan, Mainstreet's president and founder. "He has been with us from the beginning of our entry into the glass industry. "Bill has utilized his incredible skill in programming to enhance Mainstreet's Glas-Avenue products to help glass shops meet the many challenges to running an efficient profitable business. I'm grateful to have him on our team," he adds. Oeftering joined Mainstreet in 1988. Alan Resnick Leaves Glass America Alan Resnick – who has been with Glass America since 1999, most recently as vice president of sales and operations – left the company at the end of December to pursue new opportunities. Deines' Family Celebrates 30 Years of Delta Kits Delta Kits is celebrating its 30th anniversary in business this year and president Brent Deines says his parents' legacy is evident in every part of the business. "My parents, Walter and Darlene Deines, started Delta Kits in 1984," he says. "At that time the business was located in Springfield, Ore. With a heavy background in insurance and several years and with Novus and as an independent windshield repair technician, Dad knew a lot about the business and how to make it better. Mom had been keeping Dad's books for more than 30 years and is likely the nicest person you will ever meet, so between the two of them they had the knowledge and the skills to start and run a very successful windshield repair supply business. That's not to say it was easy, quite the contrary." From 1984 to 1994, the Deines ran the business themselves, along with a good friend who helped. "As things progressed, they moved to a larger location, and in 1987, they decided to sell off Glass Repair Service, the service side of the windshield repair and replacement business. I was living in Billings, Mont., but my wife and I were up for an adventure, so we purchased Glass Repair Service and moved to Oregon," he recalls. Over the first decade, the company underwent a lot of changes, but the owners focused on keeping the equipment simple and easy to use, and inexpensive to purchase. "They believed in delivering more than promised and their customers seemed to really appreciate the way they did business," Deines explains, noting that the company still sticks to these same principles. Deines became the company's third full-time employee in 1994 when he was hired as sales manager. "My parents retired in 2002 and I took over as president of Delta Kits. Within eight years, annual sales grew from $170,000 to $919,000, with a new sales record set every year. I wish I could take credit for all that growth, but the reality is that my parents did all the ground work and I just stepped in at the right time," he says. After his parents retired, Deines hired more employees. Today, the company has 10. Sales broke $1 million for the first time in 2003 and surpassed $2 million in 2010, Deines points out. "Our windshield repair systems have gone through a lot of changes, including several different injector designs in anodized aluminum and stainless, different bridge base designs in acrylic, micarta, nylon/fiberglass composite and aluminum. . . . We have just about everything a windshield repair technician can use to make the work easier," he says. The company now sells more resin in a week than it did in a year when Deines first started. It also offers professional windshield restoration products. "Best of all, our company still feels like a small family and our customers feel like our extended family. It truly is a wonderful business and we are very thankful for our many blessings," he says.