After almost 40 years Jack Pirie is stepping down from his leading role in Fantech. August saw Jack relinquish his chairmanship and directorship, but he’s not ready to completely walk away from the company he founded with mate Glen Harries back in 1973.

The company has grown considerably from those early days working in Glen’s home, but the core values remain the same.

Jack likes to surround himself with people who want to achieve something and said Fantech staff were the company’s greatest achievement; the reason it holds a leading market position
and reputation. “We have had some very skilled people and so many selfstarters; it’s fantastic.”

“One of my saddest memories at Fantech was in September 1992 when Glen had a stroke. It was devastating for Glen, his family and the company,” Jack said. “I was on holiday at the time and returned to find everyone had stepped up and taken on more responsibilities as a consequence.

I was extremely proud of them all, and with everything running so well I was able to return to my holiday, which says a lot for the people we employ.”

Elta Group Asia Pacific Chief Executive Peter Wingfield said Jack had played a key role in developing the fan industry in Australia. “As well as having introduced a raft of market leading products, Jack has been instrumental in assisting with the growth plans of Fantech, including the expansion into New Zealand and Malaysia along with a number of company acquisitions.

“He has continued to work tirelessly engineering and promoting fan products and could still be seen recently coming straight out of a board meeting and onto his graph paper where he would draw up his latest product improvement.”

“ We have maintained our ethics, continually striving to improve product quality and customer service.”

Jack’s quest to better the industry has been fuelled by his generosity to pass on skills and knowledge through Fantech’s relationship with young engineers and the Fantech Engineering Training Program for customers.

These and other actions have earned Jack respect among his peers, with his efforts and dedication over a long period of time recognised in 2010 when he was inducted into the ARBS Hall of Fame.

Jack said he would find it hard to stay away from the company he has been involved in since day one, but was also looking forward to taking a less active role and spending more time with the family and travelling.