Second Generation. Former Owner and President -- Ron  joined the business in 1975 after retiring from the Navy to work with his father-in-law (our founder, Alfred "Honey" Baril). Back in the day, Ron spent a lot of time on the road, calling on customers and meeting with business partners and vendors all over New England, fostering relationships that many of which still exist today, before taking over as President in the early 1980s. ⁣⁣For almost 30 years, Ron ran the business before passing the torch to his son Rusty. Today, while he has taken a step back, Ron is still very much a part of the fabric of Maine Thread. 

Third Generation, Current Owner and President -- Rusty is our current owner and President. He started working at Maine Thread around the time as his father, Ron. At that time, Rusty was working in the factory during the summers through high school and college. After graduating from UMaine in 1985, he came on full time. He spent his first 10 years working in the factory before moving on to running wider aspects of the business, and officially taking the lead in the early 2000s. Rusty has steered Maine Thread through many adverse events from shifts in the economy and global business, a disastrous flood, many things in between. Rusty can be seen in the office and out in the factory every day, both handling the business aspects and rolling up his sleeves on the production floor.

Fourth Generation -- Jenn is a fourth generation member of our family business. Like her father, Rusty, Jenn also graduated from UMaine before spending the next five years in education as a college instructor, and at the elementary level as a 2nd grade teacher. Jenn decided to leave teaching in 2019 to join the family at Maine Thread where she gets to work alongside her father and grandfather, learning about the business that her great-grandfather started in the 1960s. Like many others at Maine Thread, Jenn wears many hats. From production to product development, and ecommerce to social media, Jenn can be seen all over the factory doing something different each day.

Factory Supervisor -- In the nearly 20 years that Rick has been with Maine Thread, he’s become an expert in all aspects of the thread manufacturing process and is now our factory supervisor. He’s learned a lot himself over the years, and he’s taught and trained many employees that have come and gone during his time. If you’ve got a spool of our twisted thread at home, it’s more than likely that Rick was the one that plied, twisted, backwound, conditioned, and waxed your thread. Rick can handle any job or additional responsibility that’s thrown his way, and he’ll do it well and with care.

Production Team -- Robert has worked at Maine Thread for the better part of the last 8 years. He has worked all over the building during his time here, but is presently a fixture of our factory team. Robert is currently responsible for winding just about every 70 yard spool of twisted waxed cord that leaves the building. Robert also cuts, tapers, and prepares the bulk of our hand sewing thread that gets shipped all over the world to companies that hand sew footwear. While Robert currently works down in our factory, he has had stretches of time where he’ll work upstairs sewing speciality products, winding thread, or helping with whatever else may be needed at the time.

Production Team -- Ron has worked on and off at Maine Thread for many years. Ron’s official job is to run a section of our factory that produces a specialty twisted thread, so he can be seen working our twisters, wax tanks, and winders. Aside from that, Ron will pitch in with any production tasks that need doing, and he’s also our resident jack of all trades. Whether we need a shelf built, a ceiling painted, a jig made, or a special order fulfilled, Ron has the skill to get it done.