November, 2025-
Q: You’ve worked at NTS from the ground up, so can you describe your journey?
A: I’ve been here for 23 years. I started in the warehouse operation sta and then moved into the sales group, where I spent years performing commercial activities inside sales, outside sales, business development, purchasingthen moved to executive vice president and now president. I have seen this business grow from a single site to a multinational, multi-site company. I’ve witnessed how the company proved agile through different challenges. We’ve developed an understanding of business cycles and how our customers interact with our company during those cycles. There are certainly a lot of opportunities in which my past and experiences help inform best practices that we can share throughout the organization and industry.
Q:What are some top issues you see companies like NTS facing today?
A: Tariffs are a hot topic that is consistently discussed. Tariffs are significant to the business, from how we buy materials to how we sell products and navigate cash flow. The second hot topic is personnel; we’re going through a baby boomer retirement stage that I know people have talked about for years. You have a lot of people exiting the workforce, and you’re replacing them with people who have a different skill set and didn’t come up with the same type of background. So we need to make sure that we understand how to put these people in a successful place; it’s not going to be the same. Today, you must be very flexible. There’s a lot of uncertainty in what we do. At NTS, we’re constantly asking ourselves: What are the different scenarios, and what are the different things that can happen during serious situations? We’re no longer just planning for what we think is going to happen. And we’re paying affention. Everyone needs to be a subject matter expert in whatever it is that they do. We’ve tried to focus on understanding and, if we don’t understand, who can we contact to give us additional resources to help?
Q:How do you see tariffs affecting your customers?
A: Certainly customers are paying higher prices. But I think it’s not so much the tariffs as it is the lack of trade agreements causing tension. We need certainty. Customers need certainty to understand what their own demand is going to be. It’s hard to make an investment when you don’t understand the rules or policies and how they will take shape.
Q:Do you see tariffs accelerating reshoring, or are customers still relying on imported steel product?
A: I think that we’ll certainly see some more reshoring, but I also think we’re going to see some off shoring. The way that things are lining up, it’s likely going to seffle that a product is made in the country that it’s consumed. So, if you run a company that makes something here and exports it, you may decide that you’re more likely to make it in the other country, rather than make it here today. We want nothing more than products being produced in the U.S. by our customers for their customers. As the market grows, there are opportunities for all of us to improve our business while providing additional opportunities for our people.
Q:In the face of unpredictability, what advice would you give to your customers and industry partners?
A: I think that all of us, suppliers and customers alike, must work together to make sure that the industry is protected. As a supplier, it’s our responsibility to help our customers navigate the market, find solutions to their challenges or find alternatives to product that may be impacted by tariffs. We may not be able to completely mitigate that risk, but we can talk through the options swapping products or countries of origin. Or maybe it’s just explaining the market as a whole and providing an opportunity for our customer to make the best choice for their own business. In the end, that’s our goal: To work with our customer to mitigate the risk of a tari , to understand how the global market may or may not change, to provide what they need to be successful in a changing market and be comfortable with the uncertainty because I’m not sure that it’s going away.
GARY THROW JR. is president of National Tube Supply, nationaltubesupply.com
