J.M. Smith names new CEO

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — J.M. Smith announced recently that there is a new face at the helm of the company. Effective March 1, A. Alan Turfe is the company’s CEO and chairman of its board of directors, having been selected by the board after a nationwide search. He joins the company from Fresenius Medical Care, where he was SVP and chief procurement officer. 

 

“In a pool of incredibly qualified candidates, Alan demonstrated the leadership skills, business acumen and background best suited to lead J M Smith Corporation into the future,” board member and search committee chair Terry Cash said. “Alan is growth-minded and believes, as we do, that the future is bright for J M Smith Corporation. We believe he will both honor the proud history of this organization while leading it through the dynamic times ahead.”

 

At Fresenius, Turfe leveraged global manufacturing and distribution in pharmaceuticals and other medical categories to expand margins and drive profitability. He got his start on the assembly line at General Motors while working toward his MBA, after which he became a GM financial analyst, eventually moving up the ranks to become co-CEO of a GM joint venture company he led the company into in his tole as CFO of GM Worldwide Purchasing and Logisitics. 

 

After GM, Turfe joined Fisher Scientific, then to IDEX, where he was president of Micropump, overseeing sites in the U.S. and overseas with full profit-and-loss responsibilities, and growing the bueinesses through strategic acquisitions and new product development. 

 

“J.M. Smith Corp. is a phenomenal organization with a proud history,” Turfe said. “I am looking forward to working with everyone within the company as we write its next chapters together. I believe in the importance of listening to employees and to customers on a personal level, asking ‘How can we help them achieve?’ and then working with them to do just that.”

 

In his new role leading J.M. Smith, Turfe will head up the third-largest privately held company in South Carolina, which does business through such units as Smith Drug, QS/1, Integral Solutions Group, RxMedic Systems, Integra LTC Solutions and Burlington Drug Company. He will be based in Spartanburg. 

 

“One of the things that drew me to this opportunity is the longevity of both the employee and customer relationships,” Turfe said. Long-term relationships such as these are evidence of the quality of the organization, the caliber of its people and of its service. I am proud to be part of that.”