Paul Laurent to be Inducted into SC Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame

Paul Laurent plays a key role in the manufactured home industry. He represents the retailer salespersons on the SC Manufactured Housing Board. That's the state agency that regulates our manufacturers, retailers, salespersons, contractors and installers.

He's been conscientiously doing the job for a while; Paul was appointed to the board by Governor Campbell in 1993.

Mr. Laurent has been elected to the SC Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at MHISC's Annual Meeting in Columbia April 5th.

Mr. Laurent's government role followed several years of service as an association leader. He served as MHISC Charleston Chapter President, Dealer representative on the state board and on the Executive Committee as Treasurer.

MHISC is the business association that represents the manufactured home industry. SC Manufactured Housing Board is the state agency board that regulates the industry.

Paul comes from a tradition of service to the industry, of giving back to the profession. He worked with Wayne Collier and Larry Emanuelson, both early inductees into the Hall of Fame, at Dixie-George Jones Homes.

That collaboration has twice earned South Carolina Retail Center of the Year Recognition as George Jones Homes, Dixie Homes and Dixie-George Jones Homes. Paul has also been elected as SC Salesperson of the Year. All of these honors are voted on by the MHISC membership.

If you sat in on every meeting of the SC Manufactured Housing Board as I do, one of Paul's greatest contributions would be obvious to you. He is the voice of experience and reality on the licensing board.

Occasionally a smooth talker comes before the board who clearly deserves to be sanctioned for a violation of the laws that all dealers and salespersons must follow. Some of the smoothies can explain away their violations in a way that sounds pretty good. But Paul, with his decades of experience and full understanding of the rules and ethics of the business, is the person can pick out the false notes in a violator’s story. Paul is a person who can explain to the SCMHB members who aren't in our industry how things really work at a retail center--what's proper and legal and what isn't.

A native of Michigan, Paul came to SC after college via the Charleston Air Force Base in 1970. He married Sheila in '72 and went to work with his father-in-law, Harvey Jones at George Jones Homes in North Charleston, SC. He worked with the company for 34 years variously as a salesperson, manager or owner.

In 1994, Mr. Jones sold George Jones Homes to Wayne Collier, owner of Dixie Homes. Paul agreed to stay on and run the business. In 2005 the company merged its Dixie Homes store in Summerville with George Jones and the whole operation, including GM Larry Emanuelson, moved to Moncks Corner and became Dixie-George Jones Homes.

Laurent cites those three friends and mentors as positive influences in his career.

"I was brought up in a household where you were taught to respect others and treat others as you would want to be treated; be fair and honest," he says.

"Working with and for Harvey Jones, Wayne and Larry allowed me to put to practice those same values in a business setting."

Paul and Sheila are the proud father of Amy Laurent who is attending graduate school at Duke University.

Things You Wont Hear at the Hall of Fame Induction: Part Two

The First Convention was the Worst Convention

I didn't know that nobody ever listens on Friday night at the MHISC convention.

I started work at MHISC two weeks before the 1992 convention. 300 people there and I knew about four of them.

The Friday night reception: a great opportunity to make a good first impression on a lot of members. I got up and said some positive things and worked a couple of jokes in.

Nobody laughed. They didn't even listen. They just kept talking.

I didn't realize that it's an MHISC tradition that nobody ever listens on Friday night at the convention. It's a party, people have just arrived and they want to catch up with each other. President Roosevelt could have shown up and nobody would listen.

"These people hate me," I thought, "They just plain hate me."

Right there at the reception, I decided I'd just quietly resign when I got back to the office on Monday.

Now, of course, I've been voted into the industry's Hall of Fame, a honor that means a lot to me. I feel like Sally Field when she won an Oscar and told the members of the Academy in Hollywood in happy surprise, "You like me, you really like me!"

Thanks to this honor, I'm over the trauma of that first MHISC convention. And it only took 19 years.

Things You Won't Hear at the Hall of Fame Induction

Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is really an honor and something to be excited about.

This year we are inducting three people into the SC Manufactured Hall of Fame including Leonard Sanford and Paul Laurent. It'll be a great evening: April 5 in Columbia, part of MHISC's annual meeting.

Since this will be a triple-header I'll have to be pretty concise. In contrast to certain unnamed previous inductees whose names are not necessarily Clarence Strickland and Larry Parker.

I know people will be disappointed that there won't be time for 20 years worth of entertaining anecdotes that night. Thank goodness you won't have to miss them. Read on:

Changing Jobs: The Move to MHISC

My first job in association management was as an Associate Director of another association here in Columbia. I worked under a boss who was the Executive Director. I quickly learned that the difference between being Associate Director and Executive Director was a wide one.

The Executive Director goes on trips.
The Associate Director stays at the office and writes the reports.

The Executor Director gets the credit.
The Associate Director does the work.

The Executive Director receives a Pretty Decent Salary.
The Associate Director get about 45% of a Pretty Decent Salary.

I made a career decision: "I think I'd like to be an Executive Director."

The interview with the MHISC Search Committee was interesting. One of the committee members was pushing a family friend for the job and tried to knock me out of the box.

"Do you really think you'd fit in with us? We're baseball cap people. Have you ever even been in a manufactured home?"

I explained that I was an ol boy from the hills of Tennessee. Actually it was the suburbs near Vanderbilt University in Nashville, but hey it was pretty hilly up there.

The committee voted to hire me on a 7 to 5 vote. My mandate to lead.