Vice President of Operations, McGrew PS/LT Tire Co., Inc.
by Mallory Carpenter
AT THE RIPE AGE of 12, Mark McGrew’s career with tires had an eye-opening start. That summer, he began working for his father, Roger McGrew, in the family tire business. “Every summer, when all of my friends were doing their thing, I was working,” he remembers. “It used to bother me, but in hindsight it was the best thing to teach me a proper work ethic.” It also set him on a direct path to success.
Mark went away to college with no plans to return home to the family business. When his father became ill, a friend prompted Mark to reconsider his decision. “I had everything set for my next semester when my friend asked me why I didn’t want to come back to Logan and help with the family business,” Mark says. “At the time, my father had been sick, and my friend pointed out to me that my dad had worked hard to get where he was and that I should consider coming back home to help him. I really had no plans of moving back, but it seems like it was divine intervention that put me back where I should be.”
Since returning to the family business, Mark has watched the company grow from one location to include retail locations in Logan and Charleston and a commercial location in Holden, and he has witnessed a 40 percent growth in sales since 2003. As if the responsibility of a growing family business with four locations isn’t enough, Mark was elected to the Logan County Board of Education in 2010 and will serve a term of four years. “It is important for me to get involved in this avenue of politics because I have children in our school system and I want to ensure the path that we are pursuing for our kids continues in the way that will best prepare them for life after public education.”
Mark’s community service doesn’t end with the heavy burden of education, though. A member of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce board of directors, he has served as a youth athletics coach and sat on various youth athletics boards. He volunteers with the board of WE CAN, a group focused on eliminating child abuse and neglect, and as a deacon, trustee and Sunday School teacher at New Life Freewill Baptist Church, he also makes time to play guitar in a gospel group.
His desire to make everyone happy keeps him going through his busy schedule. “It’s important to me to make sure that the job is done and done right. Whether it is with the business, church or politics, people are depending on me and I don’t want to let anybody down.” Even with the successful business and community service commitments, Mark still believes that his greatest success has been his family—wife, Tracey, and children, Lauren and Connor.
Mark, who says he intends to continue growing both the family business and his political career, says that the atmosphere in West Virginia is special. When asked why he chooses to remain in-state, Mark explains that it’s the people of West Virginia that make staying worthwhile. “I love this state and the people in it. I have had plenty of opportunities to leave, but the hometown attitude and friendliness is second to none,” he says. “One of my customers made the statement to me that only in West Virginia would people take care of each other like they do here. Our state keeps moving forward in a positive way, and I have never been more proud to be from West Virginia than I have over the past few years.”
Photography by Tracy Toler on location at Stonewall Resort
