Victaulic supports employees and their careers

Dec 20, 2023

Ron Brubaker packs and unpacks his luggage bags about 90 times a year, something many people would dread.

Not Brubaker. He loves it because packing means traveling, and traveling means seeing more places he hasn’t visited or catching up with his “international family.”

It’s one of the perks for some of those working at Victaulic Co., voted one of the top large companies to work for in The Morning Call’s Top Workplaces, according to a survey of more than 8,000 area employees.

“I started extensive traveling in 2005,” he said. “Since then, I can guarantee you I would not have gotten the chance to see as much of the world as I have. And it has added to my desire to see more and more of the world.”

As manager of Victaulic’s product delivery system, Brubaker has been to China 19 times since 2005. He also has traveled to Belgium, Germany, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Canada.

“I truly have an international family,” he said. “I drove to JFK to pick up my Belgium family for the holidays and they [stayed] with us through Christmas. I consider them my Belgium nieces. If I weren’t working for Victaulic, there would probably be no way I would have ever met them.”

The traveling means one more added benefit for Brubaker. The music lover saw 58 concerts this year, including the Dave Matthews Band in Europe.

Brubaker has worked for Victaulic of Forks Township for 20 years, but it wasn’t his first job out of college. He worked elsewhere for about five years, and that provided him with the ability to appreciate how many great opportunities and experiences he’s had at Victaulic, including the chance to have his master’s degree paid for.

“That was a huge, huge perk from my standpoint,” Brubaker said.

Ally Blair was in a similar boat. The former basketball standout and alumna of Bethlehem Catholic High School (2008) and Moravian College (2012) had her tuition covered by Victaulic. It took her a little more than two years — most of which was online — but in December she received her master’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

The added education, she said, helped her get a promotion. Before she was named training coordinator, Blair was a project coordinator.

“I definitely appreciate that they were not only willing to support my work but also my career path,” Blair said. “I knew Victaulic had tuition reimbursement [when I was applying for jobs], so that was appealing to me.”

Lindsey Derstine, a 2009 Southern Lehigh graduate, has been working for Victaulic, which has more than 3,500 employees globally, as a university relations recruiter for a little more than 2 1/2 years. At the beginning of this year, she was promoted to human resources generalist.

Derstine hasn’t started graduate school yet, but she does plan to take advantage of Victaulic’s 100 percent reimbursement program (some limitations apply).

Brubaker, Derstine and Blair all enjoy the team-building exercises, such as the summer wellness fair during which about 40 vendors attend, the free Christmas lunch and Take Your Child to Work Day.

“We make sure everyone is able to get a turkey dinner. We all fall asleep after, but it’s delicious,” Derstine joked.

Employees also have grown to love the charitable work Victaulic does, including its Relay for Life team and the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival, a race on the Schuylkill River that features 20 rowers moving in unison, combining strength with teamwork in a boat whose elaborate design originates in ancient China.

According to its website, Victaulic, founded in 1919, is the originator and world’s leading producer of mechanical pipe joining solutions and grooved pipe joining systems. Used in the most demanding markets, Victaulic’s innovative pipe fitting technologies and services put people to work faster while increasing safety, ensuring reliability and efficiency. Victaulic’s grooved couplings, grooved fittings and pipe connectors are used in more than 140 countries and in many businesses.

There’s a good chance Brubaker has been to most of those countries during his time with Victaulic.

And he looks forward to the next time he has to pack a bag.

VICTAULIC CO.

*Founded: 1919

*Ownership: Private

*Sector: Commercial and industrial building products

*Employees: 938

*Website: www.victaulic.com

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