As we wrapped up our Account Manager interview series, we realized that we wanted to know more about our President Edward A. “Ted” Dion, Jr. So we sat down with him to learn about his background and experiences here at E.A. Dion, Inc.
Ted has literally grown up at Dion. Starting back in high school, Ted worked after school doing light assembly and packaging for his father, Edward A. Dion, Sr. After high school he went on to Bryant College, but scheduled his classes in the morning so that he could work at Dion in the afternoons. Ted has only had two jobs his whole life – a paper route and his work at Dion!
When asked what some of his most memorable projects were – without hesitation he said the “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby” key tags and the Merit belt buckles. The Virginia Slims key tags were remarkable because of the sheer size of the project. Ultimately the job came in at 2.2 million pieces, and this sale alone was twice the dollar volume of the prior year in total! Talk about a company growth spurt! What made the Merit belt buckle project so unique was that it was the first project that Ted truly handled from start to finish. Although his father was there for support, the buck stopped with Ted. This also happened to be a large project (over 1 million buckles) with multiple piece parts.
Ted’s favorite part of his job is working with some of the more unique projects that come through the door. As a truly custom jewelry manufacturer, Dion often works with projects that have never been manufactured before. Figuring out how to make a customer’s vision come to life is truly satisfying. It also may not just be the physical piece that needs to work better; it could be how to make ordering more seamless, or delivery to multiple locations with multiple products work, etc. Ted said that his real passion is seeing the business thrive. No matter what business he would have gotten into, he finds great satisfaction in making it grow and become more prosperous.
Ted takes this philosophy with him in all his endeavors. Ted is extremely active in the community. He is a Board Member of the Attleboro Y, Director of the United Way of Greater Attleboro and Board Member of Sturdy Hospital. These memberships mean a great deal to him and he spends many hours on projects to make these organizations thrive as well.
Outside of work and volunteer pursuits, Ted is very involved with his family. He also enjoys golfing, fishing and skiing. His most recent favorite activity is spending time with his new granddaughter Emerson, who is 9 months old!
Whatever custom jewelry opportunity you have, Ted will make sure that the piece is of the highest quality, the process is seamless and the delivery reliable and on-time. Give him a call today and see what he can do for you.
