Dwight Beard

“In football, to be competitive they study playbooks 24/7. It’s the same if you want to be successful in the Industrial Valve and Automation business. You have to take the valve and actuator manuals home and read them when you’re off the clock.”

Dwight got his start with Ferguson as a Plumbing trainee and has steadily grown his knowledge and responsibilities for nearly 18 years. In that time, he has advanced to management, lived in 3 different states, and helped create a new territory from scratch. Today he is an Area Sales Manager in Southern California overseeing the dedicated valve automation team he helped grow starting in 2015, which now also boasts 5 valve automation specialists. 

Dwight graduated from William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he was a football team captain and two-time All-American, and is honored in the school’s Hall of Fame for being one of their all-time greatest offensive linemen. After graduation in 2003, Dwight returned home to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, where he spent several months building houses. In that job he learned a lot about the construction process, which he still applies at work today. He then worked in the distribution center for a lawn and garden manufacturer before joining Ferguson’s Plumbing training program in Oaks, Pennsylvania. In 2007 he transferred to Industrial and moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he spent the next 7 years in outside sales growing his territory, earning a promotion to Sales Manager for Valve Automation in the Mid Atlantic group. After 2 years he moved to Southern California in the same capacity to focus on that region, where he succeeded in playing a key role in helping to grow that business. 

The advice Dwight has for people starting out in the Industrial PVF distribution business is to invest in themselves by expanding their knowledge. He says you really have to immerse yourself in the business to learn it, and put in extra time outside of work to learn and understand the technical aspects of the products you’re selling. He describes the mindset as thinking like you’re getting your master’s degree in the Industrial business. A positive attitude, a dose of humility, and a willingness to learn also make for a great associate, he says, adding you must be coachable and ready to dig into the technical aspects of the project you’re working on. He says the best sales associates are focused on customer service and finding solutions to the customers’ problems, which extends far beyond the Valve and Automation group.  

As a professional, Dwight is still just as competitive today as he was on the gridiron in school and in 2015 when he helped launch the Southern California valve automation territory — that drive to succeed never fades. He still studies and seeks out new information to help him stay sharp and do his part to help move the business forward. For him, even after all these years, successful business endeavors feel like winning on the field every time. 

A family man, Dwight is all about quality time. He enjoys supporting his daughters’ activities and spending time outdoors with his family on camping trips, at the beach, or hiking in the mountains.