The Gillenwaters: Chicago Surprise

Ryan was in Chicago for a meeting/awards thingy and Monday night I decided to wanted to fly up and surprise him. I know crazy last minute. After booking a ticket I did some investigating and found out where he was staying, packed a bag, and worked out details for the girls. Tuesday morning I got the girls up and off to school and I boarded a plane! I arrived at the hotel just as they were breaking for lunch! I told him he had something waiting at the front desk for him and when he walked up I texted him to "turn around" and I was sitting there waiting for him. He did NOT know what to say or think, he was truly surprised. Now, Ryan does not love surprises but pretty sure he liked this one!

While he was in his meetings that afternoon I did some shopping, he wasn't staying close enough to downtown for me to go explore.

Spouses we not invited to attend the award banquet so I ordered myself some Chicago style pizza and binged watched Netflix with some wine! I was actually really nice!

He received Center of the Year and Brand of the Year awards!

His boss sent him the scripts for the awards, which I love since I didn't get to hear them!

"So lastly, let me introduce Ryan Gillenwater, Round Rock onto the 2017 Managing Partner Team. A few numbers, because of course, numbers matter: How about $1.95m in profit on $42.1m in sales! (28% growth). Better yet 63.1 MMSF representing 37% growth! Residential distraction?? Hell no, how about 62.4% growth in ceilings sales. CE11 score of 4.96!!!! I’ve told my guys for years, the #1 thing you can take away in your resume of success is not the amount of money you make, the sales, the customers…it is the legacy of hires you make, the Team you develop and the satisfaction of watching others succeed that you hired. Ryan has an incredible history of attracting great talent and making strong hires. Consider this: Our current Branch Managers in South Austin & San Antonio are Ryan prodigies and of course soon to be Managing Partners one day. He also has several high potentials in the wings and future FOBM attendees. Without dragging this out, the man, the athlete, that takes my money and somehow cheats me in every bar game there is except paper, rock, scissors, Ryan Gillenwater, Round Rock"

and the one Brand of the Year

"So pay attention, this is important. This is the Branch of the Year for the South Region. I thought long and hard about what I could say to not give it away right away. Of course and most likely, this honor is going to be a Managing Partner (so that narrows it down to 14 for me). Meaning this leader made a bunch of money and made that money the L&W Way – doing things right! They probably mentored, built a great team and bench, sacrificed for others, embraced our core values, and supported our initiatives.

It is highly likely they excelled with associates, customers, and vendors. I bet this person was one of the first to have 3 or 4 drywall manufacturers in their warehouse and was first to take some of the riskiest, biggest swings with the big builder business. I bet their business growth was off the chain.

You still don’t know who it is, right?

So before I give you the last hint, Branch Managers, take note….this is the single biggest honor we have, Branch of the Year for the South Region. This is where you want to be, Valedictorian of your class, this is Roger Federer, Lebron James, Jordan Speith, Tom Brady…Best of the Best!

So, without further ado, here comes the best & last hint…..

If I told you this tremendous leader recently set the new, Beefeater Challenge Record at Prime Quarter by finishing a 40 oz. steak, giant loaded baked potato, a slice of Texas Toast, and huge salad, in 8 minutes!!!! Oh, and then calmly ate dessert followed by several beers, would you have a better clue as to who The South Region, Branch Manager of the Year is????"

So proud of him and his incredible team for all their hard work!

We were suppose to fly back on Wednesday but decided that we wanted to stay an extra day and enjoy the city. So after changing flights, finding a hotel downtown and coordinating the girls stuff we went out for the day to play. We were staying right on Michigan Ave so we just started walking with no real plan.

The foundation from Married with Children