Der Leim-Talk Blog

Chris Kain

TEC Digital Technical Manager for H.B. Fuller Travels to all 50 States

Posted 08 Jun 2022 by Cheryl Thomas, Global Business Director, Construction Adhesives

Traveling to All 50 States for Work

Hired in January 2005 by H.B. Fuller, Chris Kain had no clue one job would change his whole life. Based out of Jacksonville, Florida, Chris started as a technical representative for both Florida and Alabama and later moved to other regions in the US. As a technical rep, Chris had to travel mostly for demos and training at distributors, dealers and installers. He also participated in industry meetings and conventions, training events, and conducted AIA (American Institute of Architects) presentations. During his travels, he visited TEC’s large customers to conduct training and filmed two commercials for a major US big box retailer.

By November 2016, Chris had been to all 50 states with both of his daughters, who at the time were 7 and 17 years old. This later led to local news stories, two Fox News articles and a YouTube video with Southwest Airlines. Although Chris had traveled to all 50 states with his daughters, he had not yet traveled to all 50 for work until March 2022. During TEC’s new mortars launch in early 2022, he realized that he had not been to Maine or Vermont for work. So, he made it a mission to finish off his last two states for the event.

Chris During his work travels, he saw so many amazing places, two of which stood out most. Chris says that he enjoyed Alaska and Idaho most out of all the states that he visited. Alaska was filled with so many moose that it “became hard to count all of them as they grazed along the roadways.” He also enjoyed the weather, if it was –21 degrees Fahrenheit or a balmy 70 degrees Fahrenheit, Alaska was always an adventure.

Photo Credit: Joshua Nordstrom (Tierra Tile)

On the other hand, Chris says he loves Idaho because of the increased growth in the metro areas and for its understated qualities that make it favorable to him. Outside of the United States, Chris has been to British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada for work. He also has upcoming trips to Quebec and Ontario in the months to come. His next goal is to visit all of Canada’s providences and territories.

Who is TEC?

H.B. Fuller’s TEC is one of the few offering a full line of flooring adhesives. TEC provides adhesives for soft flooring (VCT, carpet, etc.), mortars and grouts for hard surfaces (tile, natural stone, etc.), and surface prep products. TEC products are known to help installers work more efficiently, saving both time and money.

H.B. Fuller currently offers two new TEC-branded mortars that are unique to the industry, TotalFlex 110 and TotalFlex 150. These mortars differ from others by being silica-free, which meets OSHA’s safety requirements. They also have an extended opening time of up to one hour that allows installers to spread a larger area without worrying about the mortar skinning over, which is an often-heard complaint about mortars.

Contact Chris on LinkedIn and follow the hashtag #IAMConnectingWhatMatters to read more employee stories.



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