Meet Kim Summers, National Director of Cooperative Purchasing, AstroTurf

From focusing on the detail to building a career over a job, meet the AstroTurf Director who is supercharging sales

Born and raised in Dalton, Georgia, Kim Summers has never been far from turf. Starting her career in an intimate family-run carpet business, she has worked up the ranks through major corporations and smaller organizations, honing her skills as an estimator, marketeer and now, a cooperative purchasing director. She was responsible for transforming the way the Group generates estimates and is part of a significant sales driver for the business that is growing. We caught up with her to find out more about her varied career and focus for the future.

Tell us about your education…

I attended Dalton State College and living in Dalton, the turf and carpet industry was never far away. Growing up in the Carpet Capital of the World it just made sense to pursue a career in the turf industry. 

In terms of my sporting education, I played basketball and ran track at high school.

Where did your college degree take you?

My first job out of college was a marketing role at J&J Industries which was a family-run carpet business. Although it was a small firm, we had national coverage which was great for building my experience. The other catalyst for my personal development was my boss and head of the company, David Jolly. He was very detail-orientated and taught us to do it right the first time. Focusing on the detail has been an important part of my career success ever since so it was a valuable early lesson.

How was the leap from a small family-run business to one of the world’s largest flooring companies?

After five formative years with J&J, I was looking for a change and that came in the form of Mohawk Industries which was a big transition from the small firm where I had learnt my trade. My initial role there was as an estimator for Mohawk’s hospitality division. This position was very numbers-focused, and it was interesting working with the large hotel chains. I then moved back into a marketing role where I did the PR for five of Mohawk’s brands.

I loved working there. There was so much knowledge and so many good people which gave me excellent training and taught me a lot. But ultimately, I felt the draw back to a family-owned business like the one where I had started.

“Becoming a global business was enjoyable and challenging. I’ve been able to work with many experienced people and engage in more complex business issues.”

When did your career path start to steer towards AstroTurf?

About 20 years ago, I made the move to STR, the manufacturer of AstroTurf which was owned by the Peeples family. They were fantastic to work for. Where my earlier roles had felt like jobs, working for them felt like being part of an extended family. For the first time, I felt I had a career rather than just a job.

As office manager, I had an involvement in everything from scheduling machines to ordering the raw materials. Basically, anything that came in and out of the building I knew about, and it really expanded my knowledge.

Tell us about your early career at AstroTurf…

In 2010 I felt the need for another change and was given the opportunity to come over to AstroTurf as their estimator. At the time we were probably only doing 75 fields per year. We are now doing over 600 fields a year, so it has been an incredible journey of growth and learning.

In around 2015, I became a contract manager which involved estimating and managing contracts across the mid-west and pacific northwest. This taught me about public bidding and understanding technical specifications and gave me the opportunity to work with architects, all of which I loved.

How did Sport Group transform your role?

Our acquisition by Sport Group was an exciting time. It came with lots of change, additional acquisitions and the chance to meet new people all the time. Becoming a global business was enjoyable and challenging. I’ve been able to work with many experienced people and engage in more complex business issues.

What has been your biggest achievement at Sport Group?

Around the time that AstroTurf became part of Sport Group, I was asked to build our estimating software for materials and labor. It took me a year to create it and is one of my biggest achievements. It was an extremely complex project that was based on so many variables. I had to work through all those moving parts and the result is the estimating software that we still use today. My ability to build what was required was the result of all the other jobs I had done up to this point. It gave me a real understanding of what the business needed.

What has been your biggest learning within the company?

We are now a huge global company with many talented people and wealth of knowledge. The value is in knowing who to reach out to, building strong relationships and being resourceful.

Tell us about your role in training…

Following my software success, I moved into a role that involved training our staff on our computer systems. I found this very fulfilling because the training was targeted at people within all levels of the company. This was a particularly good way of meeting people, especially those who were just starting out with us.

What’s your current role and what does it involve?

In 2023 I became a director of cooperative purchasing. Cooperative purchasing is when a group of entities combine their specifications into a single solicitation that can be used by all who contribute and participate which satisfies the bid requirements. An example would be to buy goods or services such as paper, IT, transportation or sports surfaces.

It’s an area of the industry that I have always been interested in, and, again, I found that my previous work experience gave me the skills and knowledge for the position. The attention to detail, the understanding of our business processes, estimating, submitting documents, understanding contracts, understanding customers. These are all key parts of the role and a great match for my skillset.

What’s the advantage of cooperative purchasing?

For the end customers, cooperative purchasing increases quality and saves money. But almost more importantly, it saves the procurement person at a school district, for example, a huge amount of time.

How much time do you spend with customers and our global product brands?

I am based in Dalton but spend a lot of time on the road. This includes meeting customers and cooperative organizations. I also work with our four global product brands AstroTurf, SYNLawn, Rekortan and Laykold. It has been fun to broaden my focus beyond AstroTurf and I’ve enjoyed learning about the track and court side of our business.

As part of this, we support our brands’ partner network to be more successful with cooperative purchasing. This includes taking them through a Cooperative Certification training program.

Where are you increasingly placing focus for the future?

The cooperative purchasing business is a very significant part of our sales and growing, so we will continue to focus on this as an area of expansion. And of course, sustainability is becoming more and more important in the process, so it is excellent that Sport Group is leading the way in this space.

What sports teams do you follow?

I love American Football and am a lifelong fan of the University of Georgia Bulldogs. GO DAWGS!