Tim Hurley of Midland has had a windy road to land on his personal Cherry Blossom Lane in Suttons Bay in 2021.
“When my wife Ann and I were dating (1970-80s) we would come up here for vacation and visit for a weekend,” Hurley said. “We continued to do that as we were living in the Detroit area in the younger days without kids. In the mid-2000s we started thinking this would be the place where we’ll end up retiring.”
Hurley, 60, has raised a family and succeeded in a career at Lincoln Electric for nearly four decades. Hurley went to be a technical salesman for Lincoln Electric after graduating from University of Michigan with a physics degree in 1986.
Hurley has been managing the Detroit office for Lincoln Electric since 2000. The role would include flying and doing business around the world.
Lincoln Electric claims to be the world leader in design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, automated joining, assembly and cutting systems. The company has grown from selling hobbyist type equipment all the way up to fully automated robotic assembly line type of applications throughout its long history. A fresh-faced Hurley started out in Cleveland right after Michigan before getting a place in Detroit.
After five years he moved to Flushing before moving up the ladder to manage Lincoln Electric’s Indianapolis office. Hurley ultimately came back to Detroit in 2000 and fell into a global automotive role in 2016 after 30 years of frontline commercial sales.
“We have manufacturing somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 countries right now,” Hurley said. “Anywhere that vehicles are made is pretty much a market for us to sell the welding equipment and the consumable filler metals that go along with the welding process. I look after that business in a way that tries to connect global customers.”
Hurley says the role is to try to anticipate where the market is going for Lincoln Electric including the growing transition to electric vehicles from a materials and joining process standpoint.
“We’re anticipating the changes in the market as opposed to reacting to them and coming to the game late. We want to be able to develop a process joining technology for customers in this business before products (mostly cars) ever hit production, we’ve got a solution ready to go for them that improves quality, productivity, or whatever the case may be,” Hurley said.
Hurley is still going strong after 38 years and admits COVID changed everything. Prior to that, he was traveling internationally once a month including trips to China, Japan, Europe, South America, Mexico, to name a few. Lincoln Electric utilized Zoom and other online video applications to supplement the need for in-person visits.
“I have weekly meetings with colleagues of mine around the world, where before I would fly there and work with them for a week … We still need to be there in person at times, but it’s limited the amount of travel that I have to do,” Hurley said. “I’m certainly not getting any younger. It’s been a lighter load because I’ve got some colleagues in my group that are taking some of the travel burden off of me ... There is a need from a personal standpoint … You can’t build relationships without being there in person.”
Over four decades, Hurley has developed counterparts all over the world that have turned into working relationships and even friends.
Hurley knew he like the mechanical side of physics when coming out of Michigan, but wanted no part of being in a lab. Hurley credits a high school co-op opportunity when he was serving as a liaison for Dow Chemical between production of their silicon resins and customers that use them. This experience opened a customer service and sales perspective in him. Hurley’s father, Basil Hurley, worked at Dow Chemical.
“It’s been a great mutual relationship company and what I’ve gotten out of it and hopefully what they’ve gotten from me,” he said. “This was a big enough company that you have lots of global opportunities, a small enough company that an awful lot of people within the organization who’ve come through the ranks like you have.”
Hurley couldn’t have a successful career without his partner in crime and wife, Ann, who stayed stateside while he was away taking care of the family. Tim and Ann have three kids aged 37, 34, and 27.
“We moved them quite a few times and the last move we made was from Indianapolis back to Detroit, our oldest daughter was 14 ... She was going into 8th grade at the time and it was much harder than as a young kid. Once we made that move we didn’t want to do that anymore,” Hurley said. “The reason we were able to do all that was because my wife took care of so many things that allowed me to go do what needed to be done from a work standpoint. It was a great family environment to be able to move together.”
Ann and Tim recently welcomed their fifth grandchild and his son will be getting married in Interlochen in September. Fun fact: Hurley is a licensed pastor and will be doing his son’s wedding.
As Hurley ages one of the biggest moments in his life was when his father passed away.
“It wasn’t until 2008 that I came to understand and embrace faith. I had been participating in some ways, but I can’t say my whole heart was in it ... To find faith and that peace of mind has been enlightening for me,” Hurley said.
Hurley admits through life they have fallen in love with people and wine.
“We always tend to live on the outskirts of those bigger cities because we’re just natives of small towns. I love a small town feel, which is another reason why Suttons Bay versus Traverse City,” he said. “I like to go to the grocery store and see people I know or go to the winery and know the people by name ... That sense of small town community is a hard thing to put your finger on and really quantify.”
When Hurley retires he wants to spend time with his family, pour wine or mix drinks at one of the local establishments.
