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Huntington manufacturer vows to keep jobs in US

Herald-Dispatch photo by Sholten Singer J. Allen Mayo, founder of Rubberlite, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in Huntington.
Herald-Dispatch photo by Sholten Singer
J. Allen Mayo, founder of Rubberlite, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in Huntington.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — If founder J. Allen Mayo hadn’t been passed up for a national sales job at American National Rubber, one of Huntington’s most notable and successful businesses may not exist.

“It’s one of those times in your life where you have to make a decision,” Mayo said. “The way I was raised it was all about respect – respecting other people and demanding other people respect you. Values. (That) was a disrespectful move.”

The beginning

After not getting the sales job, Mayo went to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, to work as a vice president and general manager. He later returned to Huntington, and, in 1986, with the help of investors, a small-business loan and friends Bill Tracy and David Thompson, started Rubberlite Inc.

“I don’t ever remember having any fear. I believed in my business philosophy so much that I don’t remember ever having any fear,” Mayo said. “(Did I have) anxiety? Of course. (Did I have) fear? No. I just remember being excited about it.”

At the time, Rubberlite had two employees Mayo’s sister, Beverly Davis, and Mike Strickland, Rubberlite’s current vice president of sales and no customers.

Located in the 2500 block of Guyan Avenue near the Ohio River, 30 years after its inception, Rubberlite now has 170 employees working at a 300,000-square-foot building built in 1917…

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