In the room: Woman business leader sees confidence as game-changer

COCKEYSVILLE – When Annette Walter walked into national business conferences soon after becoming the owner of ­Maryland-based Timber Industries a decade ago, she was often one of the only women in the room.

“In the beginning, it was really hard because a lot of people were like, ‘Who is this girl who bought Timber Industries?’ ” remembered Walter, a 46-year-old parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Timonium.

“If you approach it from a standpoint where everyone is out to get you, you might beam that,” she said, “but if you approach it like, ‘I’m here. I’m going to do good things. I want to make great things happen,’ then I think that can really help you.”

To say Walter has made great things happen is an understatement.

Soon after entering the banking industry out of college, Walter started a full-service residential real estate firm called the Strata Group. She had seven male partners and, at just 30, was the youngest among them, serving as the company’s chief operating officer.

When she sold the company in 2012, it had grown to 17 locations and was generating $20 million in revenue. That’s when she jumped at the chance to purchase Timber Industries, a national supplier of wood pallets, skids, crates and other materials. She researched the company, which had been owned by another family, for a year before buying it.

Today, Cockeysville-based Timber Industries is a multi-­million-dollar company that relies on a network of 1,800 mills across the country for manufacturing pallets and other products for Fortune 500 companies. Walter estimates that about five or six truckloads each filled with 660 pallets go out every day.

Timber Industries is the only pallet supply company in the United States that is 100 percent owned by a woman, Walter said.

“I think if women really believe in their superpower, believe in their own unique ability and just go with it and don’t think too much about it, they can really shine,” she said. “We try to sometimes fit into these different envelopes that just don’t work for us. What sometimes holds us back are false negative beliefs – fear of failure.”

Confidence is essential, Walter said.

“You have to know what you want,” she explained.

The 1995 alumna of Notre Dame Preparatory School credits her alma mater for helping shape the leader she has become. The Towson school established a “solid foundation of confidence to feel somewhat fearless walking into situations,” she said.

“When you go to an all-girls school, you really feel so surrounded by love and support and encouragement and kindness,” Walter said.

Walter works with up to four summer interns from NDP every summer, mentoring them in business and leadership skills. She is also the founder of a national business coaching company called iEvolve Consulting and has served as the chapter chair of the Women Presidents’ Organization, a peer advisory group for women who own multi-million dollar companies.

Walter noted that one of the exciting aspects of the timber industry is that it’s a leading indicator of how the economy is doing.

“We really track our sales year over year,” she said, “and we’re typically seeing sales about a season in advance of the forecast of what it’s going to look like for the following couple of months and what companies are thinking for their demand and their shipment of their commodities.”

Things are looking positive right now, she said.

“Popcorn companies, for example, are very busy because a lot of people are going back to the movies,” she said, noting that several other sectors seem to be coming back from COVID-19. “We have definitely seen more thoughtful purchasing versus reactive purchasing.”

Walter said one of the blessings of being her own boss is that she can make time for her family and the activities she loves. She goes to the gym regularly and is involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes with her husband, Shawn. Because one of her two sons has juvenile diabetes, she also works with other families dealing with the disease.

Prayer is the foundation for everything in her life, Walters said.

“It’s the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing at night,” she said. “I’ve been really trying to have more faith over worry. And that’s how I bring faith into business.”

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

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