Russell Foster, by his own calculation, hadn't had a boss since 1986.
A veteran of more than four decades in the rubber industry, he owned a rubber roller business earlier in his career, which he sold in 2003.
He also was founder, president and majority owner of Ace Elastomers Inc. But last August, he sold the mixer of specialty rubber compounds to AirBoss of America Corp. Along with his entire management team, Foster stayed on to run the Rock Hill, S.C.-based operation, which also has a plant in Chicago.
So for the first time in 35 years, Foster wasn't the one calling the shots at his business.
"My attorney looked at me during one part of the negotiations and told me, 'You're going to be an awful employee,' " Foster told me in an interview. "I replied, 'I don't think so.' "
Chris Bitsakakis, AirBoss president and chief operating officer, had been gently nudging Foster to sell Ace for a number of years, but with one caveat: Foster would not just sell the company, hand over the keys and walk away.
He wanted the Ace owner to stay on and impart his wisdom—and show AirBoss what made the mixer special.
Foster had reason to hesitate. It wasn't a good experience when he sold his rubber roller business to a private equity firm.
"Management didn't know or understand the business," he said. "The integration was difficult in that they didn't seem to have a whole lot of understanding or respect or knowledge of what we were doing, so there wasn't a whole lot of emphasis put on what we were good at."
Thus far, things have gone much differently this time around. He and Bitsakakis built a relationship over more than two years, and Foster became comfortable enough to sell the business he had run and protected all those years.
Nearly five months after the closing, he is happy with how things are going.
And turning 65 this coming summer, he did it at an age where he can start to test the waters of what retirement might be like. He said his family is nervous about him being fully retired, and he's still getting the hang of being "just an employee."
"When we have issues, I feel worse today than when I owned it," he said. "I hoped I'd get rid of some of that feeling."
Don't worry. That should come with time.
Meyer is the editor of Rubber News. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @bmeyerRPN.