54 June 2016 - Business View Caribbean
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LADIO
ANTONIO
WALKER,
M. Arch.
, was born onMay
9, 1973. He lived in Jamaica
throughout his Elementary
and High School years and
attended Hillel Academy.
During his school years
at Hillel, between the ages
of 12 to 15 years, he spent
all summers at his father’s business – Quality Dealers
Limited working in the hardware division and warehouse
department. He graduated from High School in 1989 at
the age of 15 and took one year betweenHigh School and
College to study Business Administration at the Institute
of Management and Production (IMP), simultaneously
studying and obtaining his Private Pilot’s License.
In the year 1991 he began his University Studies in
Florida, USA, where he pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in
Architecture graduating in 1995. During his Undergrad
Studies, most summers were spent working with various
architectural firms in Jamaica as well as Quality Dealers
Limited. After graduation he spent one year working
with Clifton Yap Architects in Jamaica and then returned
to the United States in 1996 to pursue his Master’s
Degree in Architecture graduating in 1998 as a Master of
Architecture.
Immediately upon graduation, he secured a job as an
Architect in theCayman Islands where hewas responsible
for various multimillion dollar commercial, single and
multi-family residential projects.
He left the Cayman Islands in the year 2000 to rejoin
the family business – Quality Dealers Limited in an
administrative capacity and was responsible for various
company operations especially involving the development
and progress of various housing developments under
Tony Walker Construction Realty Limited including Mi
Casita Apartments on Surbiton Road, Kingston 10 and
Casitas in Vineyard Town.
At present he has recently been appointed as CEO
of Quality Dealers Ltd and is tasked with guiding the
company towards improved efficiencies and increased
revenues through proper rationalization and product
development.
A new venture with the company’s primary
banker, First Global, will enable Quality Dealers
Group to become the island’s exclusive distributor
of True Value hardware and lumber – and provide
yet another method to extend the reach beyond its
existing grasp.
“It’s a pretty exciting time for us,” Walker said.
“We’re re-energizing ourselves in the marketplace
with a focus on our core business, and I’m encouraged
by the outlook for the future. If we continue to make
strides toward becoming more efficient, then if there’s
a struggle we can survive and if there’s a boom we
can take advantage and participate.”
The first segment of the multi-faceted family
business – QD Roofing Ltd. – sprang up in 1972
and was followed 10 years later by a real estate
and development arm: Tony Walker Construction
Realty Ltd. Quality Dealers Wholesale is the newest
appendage, with a stated mission to provide high-
quality products for hardware distributors and building
contractors across the island of nearly 3 million.
These days, Walker works together with his
dad, Tony, who’s now the company’s executive
chairman; and his brother, Jason, who serves as a
director. Together, he said, the three men blend the
fundamental ethical principles handed down with the
modern business practices that will help keep the
entity thriving.
“It’s a mix of styles,” he said. “We depend on my
dad’s experience in the marketplace very much, and
at the same time he’s counting on us for ways that
we can bring the business into the next generation
by utilizing the technologies and efficiencies that will
keep us ahead of the curve.
“There is definitely a real recognition of the values
and the respect, and it works both ways. He looks at
the observations we make as the younger generation
and, at the same time, we respect his experience and
learn from it.”
That combination, in Walker’s words, will create
some big possibilities.
Among the potential items on the agenda going
forward are taking the private company public, or
at the very least investigating ways to incorporate a
