Josh Travis (Provided photo)

JAY — Ward Lumber Company brought on Josh Travis earlier this year as the new general manager for their flagship location in Jay.

Travis has over a decade of management experience, having started out as a store manager at CVS in the Long Island area. He’s had experiences with opening new stores, store redesigns and won the CVS Paragon Award in 2012 for Management Excellence. Even with established careers in the Long Island area, Travis and his wife Catherine fell in love with the Adirondacks during a summer vacation and decided they wanted to move to this region before starting a family.

Having found a home in the town of Jay, Travis was referred to Ward Lumber by a friend and has now been with the company for over five years. Travis was the Jay Store general manager for a few years before stepping away from it in 2020 to focus on his growing family for a while. Having returned recently when his previous position came available, it was a no-brainer to get Travis back in the saddle, Operations Manager CJ Young said.

New CEO Bryan Mellick said of Travis’s leadership: “Josh is a strong leader, focused on running a safe, customer focused operation with the attention to detail and team development required by such a demanding position.”

Josh shared that he sees the great potential for not just 2024 but for the future of Ward Lumber. Having just recently joined the worker-cooperative as an owner of the company, Travis said that “joining as an owner is a great honor to me as I get to help carry on the legacy that is Ward Lumber.”