Art French, founder of New England Metal Finishing, Inc., a SurfacePrep Company, retired May 31 after a 33-year career building and leading the company.
His career and accomplishments were honored at a company-wide celebration at the end of May, which also honored the retirement of office manager Linda Clark.
Art founded New England Metal Finishing (NEMFI) along with Precision Finishing in 1988 to serve manufacturers in the automotive, defense, medical, aerospace and firearms industry. Over the years, the company has worked on thousands of applications for clients and has offered sales, training, and service of finishing equipment to manufacturers throughout New England.
Linda joined the company in 1992 and has served as the backbone of all office administration. As one of the earliest people hired at the company, she became its longest-serving employee. She was the company problem solver and was always first to help out when needed.
"Over the course of his career, and in everything he has done with NEMFI, Art has secured a reputation for hard work, honest and expertise," said David Deschaine, Operations Manager. "Along the way, he created a company that treats employees like family, vendors like team members, and customers like friends. Linda embodied everything great about NEMFI and kept our office organized and operating smoothly. We will miss seeing both of them on a daily basis."
David Deschaine, NEMFI's Operations Manager since 2008 will continue tending to operations and meeting customer needs. Patricia Kennan, who joined NEMFI in 2018, is the New England Customer Support and will continue coordinating many of the administrative needs of the firm.
