Intense. Focused. Loyal. That pretty much sums up the professional persona of Peter Larocque, the president of U.S. distribution for SYNNEX Corporation.
Loyal – because Larocque has been with SYNNEX for 28 years.
Focused – because he embodies one of those success stories you hear about the guy who climbed his way up the corporate ladder by working hard and showing respect for his employers and customers. Larocque joined SYNNEX as a sales associate in 1983. Ten years later he was made vice president of sales, a year after that, vice president of sales and marketing. In 2001 Larocque became executive vice president of distribution, and in 2006 he was named president of U.S. distribution.
Intense – because Larocque says he never consciously orchestrated his professional ascent, he just kept working hard and doing what he knew best. “I never planned this. I just felt lucky to be able to work. I worked hard. It was good that I knew what I was doing, and good things come when you do these things,” he says.
THROUGH THE YEARS
SYNNEX, founded in 1980 by Bob Huang with company headquarters located in Northern California, began under the corporate title Compac Microelectronics by getting in on the ground floor of servicing the rapidly growing information technology industry. In 1994 the company became SYNNEX Information Technologies, Inc., and in 2002, became simply SYNNEX Corporation.
In 1998, Larocque was already working for the company when he was asked to open the SYNNEX office in South Carolina.
In 2003, SYNNEX had its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SNX).
The company continued to grow and diversify, acquiring New Age Electronics in 2008, thereby entering into the consumer electronics business. Just last year, SYNNEX acquired Jack of all Games, which brought the company into the rapidly growing gaming market.
SYNNEX is now a huge – 10,000+ employees worldwide – provider and distributor of IT products, as well as services. In short, it provides the technology a large corporation, retail chain – or larger still – government agency, needs to operate on the cutting edge of the global economy.
SYNNEX Corporation operates in the United States as well as Canada, Japan, Mexico, The United Kingdom, Costa Rica and China.
The company buys tech products from manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Intel and Microsoft, then resells them to value added resellers that, in turn, sell those products and services to a wide variety of other businesses, including small-to-medium businesses, retail chains, healthcare facilities and governmental agencies.
SYNNEX TODAY
Walking into SYNNEX headquarters in Greenville, it becomes obvious that this is not your stereotypical boring, sterile work environment. Instead, it brings to mind a large beehive teeming with activity. Peter Larocque’s office is almost dead center of this hive, like an airport control tower, with glass walls on two sides, so he is always accessible. This is not a man who sits behind closed doors, his feet propped up on an expensive, ornate desk, phone in hand. Instead, earpiece in place, Larocque stands in front of a computer console, which allows him access to the company’s worldwide enterprise, customers and vendors.
“My vision,” he says, “is for SYNNEX to continue to grow, but not at the expense of quality. Not at the expense of growing wrong, which is to say, unprofitably.” Larocque is nothing if not a team player. “I’ve been fortunate to work for only two men in my career. From them I have learned a great deal, and our corporate culture here is ‘take care of customers, get it done, and bend over backwards to do it the right way.’ We’re not going back to offer excuses.”
“I feel a deep sense of responsibility,” he adds. “First, a responsibility to do a good job, responsibility to our employees, to our suppliers, to our customers. I feel a responsibility to provide opportunities for our employees. People, relationships are important.” “We have high expectations,” Larocque says. “We’re never as pessimistic as the current headlines. We’ve been hiring aggressively since 2008. We’ve been consistently profitable for 94 consecutive quarters.” Impressive, and rare in this economy. Another of Larocque’s mantras is: “A job’s not done until it’s completed. If we get a call at 6:01 pm, we stay until that request is completed. We care about the little things, like watching the pennies.”
IN THE COMMUNITY
Even the most driven, intense, focused business executive can be touched by the plight of a sick child. And that’s what happened to Peter Larocque.
A few months ago, Larocque was on a business trip visiting one of the company’s biggest clients in Chicago. Executives at CDW there invited Larocque to attend an event for the Chicago Make-A-Wish Foundation. There, Larocque was told that the South Carolina Chapter of Make-A-Wish needed help fund raising. Larocque stepped up to the plate, and that’s how he became involved with a terminally ill young boy whose wish was to drive a car at the BMW Performance Center. Since SYNNEX is a presenting sponsor of the BMW Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Larocque and his team had direct access to the powers that be at BMW. Larocque and executive Bob Stegner worked to make this child’s wish come true. Sadly, the young man was too sick before he was able to realize his wish to get behind the wheel at BMW and then shortly thereafter, died. And that spurred Peter Larocque into action.
“I’m not personally a fund raiser,” he says, “but I feel a responsibility to those people who can make a difference. If you’re in a position to do something to help (the community), and if you don’t do it, then it’s a shame.”
Larocque is now extending his sense of responsibility to the Greenville community. While serving on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of South Carolina, he saw the difficulty fund raisers are having in this economy. So he is combining his experience with his business relationships by launching the SYNNEX Share the Magic Event on October 15th at the TD Convention Center. Larocque is asking for other corporate leaders to join in his efforts to support community charities.
While humble about his achievements, Larocque takes great pride in his family – wife Lisa and three young children. It was this love for children which drew him into the becoming involved in working for Make-A-Wish Foundation.“When you meet these kids, they’re great, their outlook is fabulous. Once you see some of these kids, how exceptional they are…,” his voice trails off.
Ask Peter Larocque how he wants to be seen by his peers and employees, he replies, “In the end, I think, I’d like to hear, ‘he does a good job, he’s a good husband, a good father. He tries to help.’”