Celebrating a Career of Growing Our Outdoors Business

As Quanex subsidiary Liniar continues to grow its line of outdoor projects, it’s worth shining a light on one person who’s been there for nearly the entire ride: Mark Sims, sales director, outdoor products.

“Mark has put so much work into growing our outdoor products business,” said Nigel Bishop, Liniar’s group sales director. “He’s a legend, and our entire team has a massive amount of respect for what he’s done here.”

Mark joined the company in 1991, then called H.L. Plastics, and has seen the business evolve from a trade extrusion house into what it is today. He even led marketing efforts in the 1990s and coined the name Liniar for the company’s window and door systems.

“I’ve been lucky to have experienced good growth over 33 years,” Mark said. “We were a team of 40 people when I started, and now we’re over 600.”

Mark entered semiretirement earlier this year and plans to officially retire in 2025, when he’ll make time for his hobbies like hillwalking and tennis. But as Mark enters his final chapter at Liniar, a new story begins. His son, Owen, recently began training to become a technical engineer for Liniar. Mark said he believes Owen has the passion and drive to make a successful career.

“In my opinion, it’s down to hard work and keenness, and I’ve seen it in my working life,” Mark said. “If you can show the people you work for that you care about what you’re doing and you put the effort in, it’ll get noticed.”