Growing up on a farm in the 70’s John Rowe used to watch his father set the mechanical thermostats on the family’s tobacco barns and wonder what made them tick. His dad had been one of the first students through a local instrumentation school that became one of seven in the US to cater to the instrumentation needs of a local nuclear fuels company just starting up in the Carolina’s. John waded through the instrumentation books his dad had used in his studies and became evermore hungry to understand the inter-workings of these industrial devices. He turned that interest into his own college pursuit at the same program of which his father was a founding member and eventually into a 30 plus year career in the controls, instrumentation, and valve industry. Climbing to the role of Vice President at one of the largest distribution companies in the Southeast he eventually left and has begun a new career in the industry he’s loved since a young man. He started his career as a field service engineer working on boiler controls and burner management systems in addition to successfully implementing a variety of control and instrumentation projects. Rowe commented “In the beginning we did it all! I was the guy who walked the job down, quoted the customer, processed the PO, ordered the parts, designed the system, developed the CADD drawings, installed the controls, wired the cabinet and field devices, did the startup & commissioning and developed all the documentation as well as billing…..did I leave anything out?” Eventually moving into outside sales where he excelled in applying instrumentation and valving to a variety of industries that existed in the territory. Eventually working into several product management roles and finally into the role of Regional Vice President. John left the company in October of 2020 to begin Southern Valve and Service Inc along with business partners, Keefe Hardy and Bob Duff. Keefe and Bob both owned Southern Instruments Inc and had been working the Georgia, Alabama & Mississippi region for 25 years. “I am excited to bring our years of experience to the customer that is not seen in today’s high turnover companies. Knowing what you are doing because you’ve done it before is lost to a degree nowadays. I’m proud that our new company will be able to provide product application knowledge to our customers that gives them the confidence to know that their project will be a success. It’s what we’ve always strived for and I don’t intend to change how we do it in the future.”
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