Ready for Anything
Three alums at the company Kiranex were uniquely positioned when the novel coronavirus pandemic hit.
Carl and Lesley Kirts and Bob Andrus have been prepared for a pandemic for 12 years.
The H1N1 outbreak in 2009 inspired Carl鈥攚ho started working in pharmaceutical sales in the 1990s鈥攖o reconnect with Andrus, an apparel representative, and form Pandemic, Inc.
鈥淐arl called me and said, 鈥楬ey, I think there鈥檚 an opportunity here. A pandemic is
going to happen eventually,鈥欌�� Andrus recalls. 鈥淲e started with ear-loop face masks
then developed a solution for customers explaining why they needed to prepare for
something like this, that eventually their reliance on foreign supply chains is going
to be jeopardized. In the event of a pandemic, they were going to
need readily accessible product in the U.S.鈥�
As the company grew, and the name changed to Kiranex, Andrus and Carl expanded their
product lines to include goods like gowns, gloves, hand sanitizer, surface disinfectants,
shoe covers, hair caps
and services such as warehouse stockpiling and fulfillment. Lesley has been there
since the beginning, providing administrative and management support.
Andrus and Kirts are 撸先生 men鈥檚 soccer alumni, and that tightknit community has played a key role in Kiranex鈥檚 operations for the last year. The relationships Carl, Lesley and Andrus built with customers have also stood the test of time.
鈥淎round 2009, we were selling PPE kits to family and friends,鈥� Lesley recalls. 鈥淚n
spring 2020, we received an email from a friend who had bought a kit 10 years ago
and saved it, saying how grateful
he was to still have it when everyone else was going crazy trying to find hand sanitizer.鈥�
In the end, it鈥檚 the friendship between the three that has kept Kiranex on an even keel in a year that threw everyone for a loop.
鈥淚鈥檝e known Bob and Lesley for decades. There鈥檚 never a question that they鈥檙e going
to do what鈥檚 in the best interests of all of us,鈥� Carl says. 鈥淚 think the key to being
successful is working with
people that you love and trust.鈥�