Executive Profile Solid Timber Lumberman Robert Stolz branches into international business while helping hammer out better state economic policies By Phil Kirk

It’s a bit ironic that a man who never shies away from going against the grain is in the hardwood lumber business. But that’s Robert Stolz, the independent-minded executive who, at just 42, is demonstrating solid timber as a CEO, civic leader and shaper of state economic development policy.

He was CEO of The Hardwood Group in Charlotte for 12 years, then joined his company with the international Wurth Group, a holding company that distributes cabinet supplies and assembly materials woldwide. As head of the German company’s U.S. Wood Division and a member of its 24-member International Board of Management, he’s responsible for 45 distribution centers across America and 1,000 employees. He’s obviously been busy since bucking his family to drop out of law school to pursue business opportunities.

Stolz also enjoys the admiration of some of the nation’s top Democratic politicians, as was recently demonstrated with his appointment by Gov. Mike Easley to head the North Carolina Economic Development Board. Building and running successful business ventures is one thing, he says, but getting involved in major public policy issues can be a chore. He laughs about “many times finding myself in jobs which I did not know anything about.”

He oversees operations for Baer Supply in Chicago, Louis and Company in Los Angeles, Trend Distributors in Miami, and The Hardwood Group in Charlotte, where he maintains his office. The point could be made that he spends so much time on airplanes that they are his second office.

Naturally, one wonders how his hectic travel schedule and business responsibilities leave him time to be the state’s leading volunteer spokesperson on economic development issues. But he does find time, which the governor appreciates. “Robert has demonstrated clear leadership and helped guide our state through some challenging economic times,” Easley says. “He is full of energy, committed and always willing to go the extra mile to get the job done.”

Stolz grew up in Savannah but his family moved to Atlanta when he was 12. He first came to North Carolina to attend Christ School, an all-male Episcopal boarding prep school in Asheville. He went back home to attend the University of Georgia and majored in political science, naturally, since he grew up in a political family. His father, Irwin Stolz, was a Court of Appeals judge. “The only political race I lost was when my dad ran for the Supreme Court in Georgia,” he says.

He managed other political campaigns while in college and politics got into his blood. So, too, did the legal profession. His grandfather and father were lawyers and judges, his older brother (Wiley Wasden) was a lawyer, and his mother, Mary Bell Harrison, was a paralegal.

The family plan was that he would move quickly and smoothly from college to law school, join a major firm and then perhaps rise to the bench. “I went to law school at Emory but after the first semester, I got pulled back into politics and dropped out,” he says. “My family practically disowned me.”

His first national experience in politics was handling the “Southern campaign” for Rep. Richard Gephardt’s 1984 presidential campaign. The Missouri Democrat then was the leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives. “That is where I learned to set up branch offices in each state,” he recalls.

 “Gephardt ran very well until his money ran out,” Stolz muses. “He asked me to move to Iowa as a part of his campaign, but I decided not to do that. I loved Dick, but not enough to go to Iowa in December.”

The experience from the presidential campaign came in handy in his next career move. Political connections in the administration of then-Georgia Gov. Joe Frank Harris, a family friend, helped him land a job in the office of Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. And that took some doing, seeing that “the staffs of the two leaders did not speak, communicate, or cooperate,” despite City Hall being just across the street from the State Capitol.

Young convinced Stolz that he could be the person to bridge the gap between the two — between the city and the state. It was here that he got his first taste of economic development. “The mayor had a great vision for Atlanta and it gave me my first blush with economic development. He wanted to bring the Super Bowl, the national Democratic convention, and the Olympics to Atlanta and he succeeded.”

After a couple of years, the governor fired Tom Perdue, his chief of staff who was Stolz’s best friend and mentor. Perdue and Stolz had lunch weekly where they pondered their futures. Putting politics behind, Perdue decided to start a bank and he convinced Stolz to join him.

“Once again, I took on a job in a field I knew nothing about,” Stolz says. “But Perdue convinced me that I knew enough people and knew how to raise money. While I loved politics, I did not want to continue in it fulltime.” His wife, Anne, even told him he didn’t know anything about banking.

Starting out in an office in a Wal-Mart shopping center in Union City, Ga., near the airport, he began knocking on doors as the vice president and director of business development for what became the Southern Bank Group. “It was just like a campaign,” Stolz says. “We raised so much money that we started four community banks. I went from selling candidates to selling banking products and that was easier.”

A new management group took over the community banks and Stolz was sent to banking school at LSU. Southern Bank Group soon began selling off some of its banks. The first sale was to SouthTrust.

Stolz wasn’t sure what his future with the Southern Bank Group held, but he knew he was still content being a banker. He and Anne were firmly entrenched in the Atlanta area, and Stolz would spend fall Sunday afternoons watching pro football and talking business with his father-in-law, Jim Howard.

Howard owned a lumber business based in the Atlanta area. The company also operated Charlotte Hardwood Center, where a man named David Mashburn oversaw operations. It was the early 1990s and Mashburn wanted to expand. Howard wasn’t as enthusiastic. “My father-in-law was a solid lumber guy, but David saw the opportunity to sell more products,” Stolz says. “Based on my selling more products in the banking business, I thought he had a great idea.”

According to Stolz, Howard told Mashburn that he had “this damn Democratic son-in-law who had a little money in his pocket and may want to do something with it.” So Stolz went to Charlotte and met with Mashburn. Stolz again was about to enter a business he knew absolutely nothing about, but his strong financial background and outgoing personality provided a perfect balance with Mashburn. “We’re a perfect match,” Stolz says. “He knew the business better than anyone, is an introvert, and operations-oriented.”

Stolz moved to Charlotte in January 1992, and Anne, a teacher, joined him in June when the school year ended. Tragedy struck the family in October when Anne’s father Howard died in a machinery accident in the lumberyard. But the Hardwood Group in Charlotte survived, thanks to the business expertise and drive of Stolz and Mashburn and some “awesome help from First Union.”

How does Stolz keep so many balls in the air at one time? He claims he has attention deficit disorder (although he has never been diagnosed with it) and he credits that with his success. Friends would say there is more to his success than the claim.

“Robert brings intelligence, energy and plain old business savvy to every endeavor,” says Ruth Shaw, president of Duke Power. “He’s persistent on strengthening economic development in North Carolina — and when Robert sets his mind to something, get ready for things to happen.”

Stolz often recalls the advice given him by Lauren Steele, a Coca-Cola executive in Charlotte,12 years ago. “He told me that if I were going to be in Charlotte, I had to get involved (in the state) and that I had a responsibility to do so,” Stolz says.

So Stolz became involved in Gov. Jim Hunt’s third and fourth gubernatorial campaigns and later became close friends with Easley and has been actively involved in his successful campaigns.

Stolz loves to tell the story about his first encounter with Sen. John Edwards, now the Democratic candidate for vice president. “I agreed to have some people over to our home to meet him, but I had to beg family and friends to come to meet him,” he remembers. “We finally built a big crowd, but I got the time mixed up and got home an hour after the party started. Anne met me at the door and she was so upset.”

Stolz is “extremely excited” about Edwards’ bid for the nation’s No. 2 office. “It would be good for our state and it would raise the profile of North Carolina, and would help us in economic development.”

Edwards, in turn, praises Stolz. “Robert represents the best of private sector leaders that are involved in public life,” he says. “I value his common sense and his business perspective.”

Stolz has brought energy and determination to his role as the leader of the North Carolina Economic Development Board. He has moved some of the meetings outside Raleigh, and he has insisted on regular reporting and vigorous follow-up to policies recommended by the volunteer board. In addition, he has initiated monthly meetings of the executive committee while the full board meets quarterly.

“Robert has given great leadership as chair of the Economic Development Board, which helps guide the work of the Department of Commerce,” says Belk Department Stores executive Tim Belk of Charlotte. “He has recruited a number of other statewide leaders, such as Ruth Shaw, (Greenville publishing executive) Jordy Whichard and many others. Robert has an excellent feel for politics in the state and a strong business background. For Robert, it’s a passion, and he does a great job of pulling these two groups together.”

Ed Turlington, another friend, agrees. “His skill and his interest in how public and private leaders can work together to create jobs make him a valuable economic development leader. Robert is one of our state’s brightest young business leaders with important international experience.”

Continuing on the theme of Stolz’s ability to get things done, RBC Centura CEO Kel Landis adds this: “Robert loves to be given a challenge and then plot a well-thought out strategy to address a business problem. Robert is optically astute in the right kind of way, meaning he understands different views and the connection between those different views and how to get things done.”

Stolz praises Easley’s work in the governor’s office. “He has made some tough decisions in tough times,” Stolz says. “He has weathered the storm well. We had no money for incentives for a while and now things are turning around. All the things which have been put in place will cause North Carolina to blossom forth in economic development.”

Easley’s strong stance on education also agrees with Stolz, who is a strong advocate for the state’s community college system. “One area which continues to be overlooked is our tremendous community college system,” Stolz says. “Had it not been for our community colleges, our economy would have been devastated.”

Continuing, he says, “I really believe that North Carolina has one of the best business climates in all of the United States. We have a terrific climate advantage. The winters in Boston and Chicago are brutal. We have an influx of bright people moving into the state and we have a strong pro-business climate. North Carolina, unlike any other southern state, has good economic development spread throughout. We have rural areas, of course, but we have hubs of economic activity like Greenville and Asheville in the east and west. People in this state are optimistic and see a bright future.”

Although Stolz continues to thrive in the political arena, he gives a “strong no” when asked if he might ever seek public office. “What I enjoy is helping people get elected and then advising them after they are elected. It is the ultimate sacrifice for people to run for political office and I have an agreement with my wife that I will not run. If I tried to do so, I guarantee you she would throw my clothes out the second floor window of our home.”

That would be their permanent residence in Charlotte, although Robert and Anne enjoy spending time at their second home on Lake Norman, where their 10-year-old twins, Robert J. and Mary Gray, have free reign. The family enjoys boating together, even to the point of chartering what Stolz calls “big boats.” He developed this love for the water when he worked at a Savannah marina as a young boy finding crabs and selling them at bus stops in the afternoon.

That probably was the first example of Stolz taking a job that he knew little about. But he was successful at it, no doubt, just as he’s been successful in each of his endeavors since.