Sarah Chesbrough, president. (Christine Carignan)
When the providers of IT technology can’t find what they need for their clients, they turn to Netria in Exeter. The company, and its 18 employees, work with thousands of manufacturers and vendors to source hard-to-find products for value added resellers and distributors.
While Netria President Sarah Chesbrough has only been leading the organization for a year, she joined Netria soon after it was founded in 2003, worked her way up the ranks and has been an integral part of the executive team for years. Chesbrough was hired by founders Ray Southworth and Bill McKone as an admin but by 2017 was named vice president of operations.
The founders saw Chesbrough’s leadership potential and began training her for the top job at the now employee-owned company, where 50% of the workforce are women. “All the employees have a stake in the company. Any gain or loss they have a part of. They are empowered to make decisions to help our customers and our business,” Chesbrough says.
Those employees, and the vendor relationships Netria has built that allow it to fill sourcing gaps for resellers, have driven the success of the company, Chesbrough says. “A lot of these companies we’ve been doing business with for 20 years. They come to us regularly to fill those needs for them,” she says. “We get the product they need and get it out the door when we say we will get it out the door.”
While disruptions in the supply chain have proven challenging, Chesbrough says the company has been managing through it and setting realistic expectations with customers. While revenue dipped during the pandemic, the company exceeded its pre-pandemic revenue in 2021. Chesbrough says while she expects this year’s sales to be the same as 2021, she is projecting business to grow by 10% to 15% next year.
Current Issue - April 2024