According to NSG Consulting Inc. Senior Partner Nanette Gregory, Lori Parent, Northeast sales manager for Breen Color Concentrates LLC, "supports customers with enthusiasm and the determination to meet their needs for the best products available." Gregory submitted Parent's nomination for Women Breaking the Mold.
"Lori continues to learn and grow," Gregory added. "She regularly looks for new markets and opportunities for the company. Recently, Lori has helped some plastic industrial textiles, consumer products, wallpaper and carpet manufacturers make the switch to the Breen Color product line."
Parent has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the wire and cable industry.
"This has led to a reputation in the industry as a go-to person who finds a way to solve wire and cable manufacturing challenges, especially when it comes to plastic resins and colors," Gregory said in Parent's submission.
That reputation earned Parent the Charles D. Scott Distinguished Career Award in 2010. In 2007, Parent also served as the first female president and board member of the Wire Association International, where she is still actively involved.
If she were the head of a company, Parent said, she would expose her employees to associations and organizations to "dig deep into the well of industry networking."
With all these years under her belt, the part of the plastics industry that surprises her, she said, is how much it "encompasses our world — every nook and cranny."
"[The plastics industry] is so diverse and applies to our lives in so many ways," she said.
Parent's first plastics industry job was in 1979 at Brand-Rex Ltd., which was acquired by Leviton Network Solutions in 2015 and now goes by the name Leviton. It was there that Parent met her mentor, George Graeber, who was president of the company and retired to ski and run marathons in his 70s.
"He alleviated any fears I may have ever had about being a success in a manufacturing man's world," Parent said.
And the best advice she's ever received? "You don't need my permission. You know what to do, Lori. Just go ahead and do it."
When she is not hard at work at Lambertville, N.J.-based Breen Color, Parent unwinds by running, hiking, gardening and sketching.
Parent said her future aspirations are that she can continue doing was she does best: "Sell, sell, sell."
"I hope my company continues to give me the latitude and the faith that they have given me for the past 17 years to find my stride," she said. "Of course, I would like to have the financial stability I need for old age!"
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