After almost 25 years in the industry, Lynda Preble has joined forces with Jim and Katherine Ryan at Specialty Engraving and Awards.
They have all seen the industry through some dramatic changes, all for the better, they say.
More then 25 years ago, Preble would have never guessed she would be where she is now. She graduated from college with her B.A. degree in Home Economics and taught for three years at Fletcher High in Neptune Beach.
Preble’s father, Henry Harris, owned Jacksonville’s Trophy Center.
It was after Preble’s three years of teaching that Harris approached Preble about joining the family business.
“He must have asked at the right time because I said yes,” Preble explains.
In 1990, Preble bought the Trophy Center from her father and owned it for four years until she decided to sell the business in order to spend more time with her father, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Only three short months after Preble sold the Trophy Center, Harris passed away.
After that, Preble decided to try her hand at another family business—lighting manufacturing. After three years, Preble sold that business and went back to the Trophy Center. In 1997, Preble was hired to work for the people she sold the business, where she stayed for five years.
Last April, Preble joined Jim and Katherine Ryan at Specialty Engraving and Awards.
In addition to working in the business for so long, Preble is also the Southeast Regional Director for the Awards and Recognition Association and was recently nominated to sit on the national board.
Preble is not the only one familiar with the business, though. The Ryans moved to Jacksonville from Atlanta in 1991 to manage Specialty Engraving and Awards and now they own the business. Katherine’s family owns five Specialty Engraving and Trophy stores located throughout Atlanta.
Katherine also was familiar with the construction industry, partly from her work with various builder associations. Before moving to Jacksonville, she worked as a model home merchandiser in Orlando and Atlanta.
When the Ryans moved to Jacksonville, Katherine joined the Northeast Florida Builder’s Association. Since joining, Katherine has been very active in NEFBA. She has ran the charity auction, chaired the annual gala, been on numerous committees, sat on the NEFBA Board of Directors and has been active in the Sales and Marketing Council.
Now, Lynda, Jim and Katherine work as a team at Specialty Engraving along with the Ryans’ son, Doug Dale, the vice president of sales, and daughter and art director Kim McSwain.