Working with 84 Lumber an ideal homecoming for county native
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Frank Cicero, chief operating officer at 84 Lumber, in a file photo from 2018
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Chief Information Officer Paul Yater helps 84 Lumber improve business practices through use of technology.
There was a time, about a decade ago, when the nation’s largest privately held building materials supplier appeared to be in peril. A severe housing industry decline prompted the Great Recession, and both threatened to turn 84 Lumber Co. into 42 Lumber – half of what it had been.
The nation, however, began to recover in 2010 and so did 84 Lumber, which weathered a three-year downturn that forced it to lay off hundreds and close more than half its stores nationwide. The company 84, founded and headquartered in Eighty Four, has rebounded robustly.
Several years after regaining its bearings, 84 Lumber decided upon a strategic move. It did not have a chief information officer and determined, in today’s business climate, having an information technology leader was paramount. So 13 months ago, the firm brought one on board.
Paul Yater not only has gained his bearings there, he is experiencing a fruitful homecoming.
Yater, 46, a Trinity High School graduate, is CIO of the global company Joe Hardy started 62 years ago, and which is now being run by his daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, the president and chief executive officer.
The reasonably new CIO arrived from GNC, the most recent previous employer on an impressive résumé. Yater began his career at IBM in New Jersey, before moving to Dick’s Sporting Goods, then GNC.
He did not seek his current position. “A recruiter called me,” Yater said.
“Maggie handpicked Paul,” said Frank Cicero, 84 Lumber’s chief operating officer and Yater’s supervisor/mentor.
Yater is pleased with where he is, in charge of a department of about 50 that is likely to expand, with a large operation that is on an upswing.
“One key is this is a strong company with strong finances that is growing and looking for IT expansion,” he said. “Finding ways to make technology better is definitely part of this.”
IT transformation is a major objective, said Cicero, who epitomizes the concept of “working your way up.” He is a 34-year employee of 84 Lumber, who was hired as a trainee in 1984.
“We’ve had lots and lots of capital investments the last few years,” Cicero said. “Now with the IT transformation, we feel we have the discipline to move forward.”
He said the hiring of an information officer “was two years overdue,” but the end result has been positive. The mentor gives Yater high marks.
“Paul had all of those qualities you didn’t have to teach,” said Cicero, who lives in Peters Township. “He had so much of this in his DNA. Everything he said he was going to do, he has done.”
These have been prosperous times at 84 Lumber, and the future appears to be promising. The company was experiencing a similarly fortuitous run more than a decade ago when it was broadsided by a severe downturn.
A nationwide housing boom began in 2003 and peaked in 2006, when 1.8 million single-family homes were built. To accommodate the demand, 84 Lumber operated 500 stores in 36 states, employed 10,000 and recorded $3.8 billion in sales.
Housing plummeted over the next three years, hitting a nadir in 2009 when a mere 380,000 homes were constructed – a stunning 79 percent drop from 1.8 million. That forced 84 Lumber to close more than half the stores it had in 2006 and slash its workforce to 2,800.
The company began to recover in 2011, when it realized $1.4 billion in sales. Sales have risen every year since, and Cicero said “revenue should be at $4 billion” in 2018. Hiring has improved – there are now 5,500 associates in 32 states. And over the past three years, 84 Lumber has opened or reopened 17 stores, while also launching some truss plants and door shops.
Housing construction is on the ascent, too. An estimated 850,000 single-family homes are forecast to be built across the United States this year.
Yater is enthused about being in the midst of this, in a region familiar and dear to him. The possessor of a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College and a master’s in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh, he lives in South Fayette Township with his wife, Lynne Unice Yater, and their two sons and two daughters.
His spouse and father-in-law, John Unice, are Washington & Jefferson College Athletic Hall of Famers. Both were inducted for basketball – she as a player, he as a longtime head coach.
It has been a beneficial homecoming – for Paul Yater and his company.