Jim McMenamin deeply understands the power of relationship building and why LMC is so different. Jim is LMC’s Purchasing Manager for East-West Commodity Lumber. He oversees a team of sixteen lumber traders and two assistants and lends a hand in supporting LMC’s futures program.
Jim and his team work hand-in-hand with traders and suppliers to help facilitate important supplier relationships that benefit our Dealers. Their team also works to make sure our Dealer network benefits from their LMC relationship by having access to competitively priced products that allow them to compete in their local markets.
"I have 16 of the best traders in North America. They know their markets inside and out, they are excellent at market timing so that our Dealers know they are priced properly in the market," Jim says. In turn, Dealers trust, respect, and rely on Jim's team. When times are difficult, Dealers know they can stay the course with LMC.
Jim joined LMC in July 1999 as a trader in the Western Domestic Lumber Department. When Jim arrived, LMC was about to reach an important milestone: exceeding $2B in purchases for the first time in LMC history. He was quickly tasked with growing our relationships in the Western region, and he personally talked to LMC’s first Dealers in Washington, Oregon, and California.
Expanding West was not a matter of outreach and onboarding. Jim had to build those relationships by diving deeper into those Dealer’s supplier networks. Jim’s task was to help LMC learn the West coast lumber business and expand our reach into those Dealer’s supply chains. Thanks in part to Jim and his team's work, we now have ninety dealers in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Jim also helped usher in an important change that added huge value to our entire network. Around ten years ago, LMC merged the Eastern Spruce Department, Western Spruce Department, and the Western Domestic Department. Although it may seem like an administrative move on paper, the consolidation of these departments offered new opportunities for both Jim's team and the Dealers they support. Today, Dealers can speak to one department instead of multiple points of contact across the business. They know exactly where to go with their questions, and it makes the connections the department has with our dealer network that much stronger.
The move has had further impacts for both the LMC team and our Dealers. "Our trading staff became much more adept at recognizing opportunities out of the multiple production regions while bringing the best delivered cost to our members in their local market," Jim says. This growth has served to make the LMC relationship even stronger, more valuable, and differentiated in the market.
What is Jim's favorite accomplishment from his time at LMC?
"The countless relationships that we have developed throughout the years whether with our vendor community, our Dealers, and the team I work with. We have long, deep relationships. I love the fact that whenever the Green Bay Packers or Liverpool FC play, my phone blows up with people I’ve done business with all over North America reaching out to engage. Our relationships have grown so strong they extend outside the day-to-day business. To be here for 24 years and look back at these relationships, it’s been a really good place to work."
