by Rob Glander, GWC President and C.E.O.
This past Wednesday, GWC hosted about 150 guests at the ribbon cutting and open house celebrating our new office. Our Coal Street location in Wilkes-Barre, PA is the 4th space GWC has occupied since its founding as Guardian Warranty 16 years ago. Each move has represented an important step in the company’s growth. This beautiful space represents our company’s past success as well as our future aspirations.
Several years ago, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton laid out a vision for the Coal Street complex that would rescue it from disrepair and restore the happiness of its glory days. We were inspired by the Mayor’s commitment to this project and are proud to be part of this energizing community. While we are a nationwide company, GWC Warranty is delighted to call the City of Wilkes-Barre our new home.
GWC Warranty now occupies more than 16,000 square feet of space which houses our claims administration, contract processing, and executive offices. A 72-person training room gives us the ability to host high-level training programs for partners and employees.
The transformation of GWC’s headquarters itself took just about a year to complete. Just 5 months ago we were standing in a completely undeveloped space. We have many people to thank for turning that empty space into a world class office that our employees are proud to call home:
· Coal Street Redevelopment (including John Aciukewicz)
· The Wilkes-Barre City Council
· Mayor Leighton and his staff (most notably John Koval, who worked out the details of this deal with us over several months)
· The Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business & Industry (in particular, John Augustine who introduced us to this site last year)
· Tony Bevilaqua from Sordoni Construction Services, who served as our construction manager
· Jim Kline from Sordoni, who was the onsite superintendant every day during construction
· Highland Associates, our Architects. (In particular, Charlie Consagra who convinced us to go big and bold with the space. Also, Denise Luikart from Highland, whose design genius can be found in every square inch of this space)
· I’d also like to note that Jason Fondren, the artist who created the beautiful paintings in our gallery under a very tight schedule, made the trip over from New York to be with us for the opening.
· Finally, Joe Brennan, GWC’s Vice President of Operations, who lived and breathed this project from its initial inception through this reception. All in his spare time while doing his day job! Thanks so much Joe.
GWC Warranty is proud to be a leading provider of vehicle service contracts in the U.S. We bring the “No Worries. Just Drive” experience to dealers and drivers nationwide.
And, we are thrilled to occupy this state of the art facility, from which we will continue to deliver that experience for our customers.
