We know the next generations hold the key to the pool/spa industry. But, given the reticence of some young individuals to participate in this field, many wonder what the future holds.
People like Caley Gibbs provide reason for optimism. That’s why the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance has named her its Young Professional of the Year. The organization describes the designation as “a peer-nominated award recognizing a forward-thinking leader under the age of 40 who will be the voice and next generation of pool and spa professionals.”
Gibbs wears a number of hats in her family’s business, Toronto-based Gib-San Pool and Landscape Creations. And among her industry-wide contributions, she has played key roles in bringing together young professionals.
Last month, she achieved a status few, if any, have at her age — joining PHTA’s Board of Directors at 28.
In her blood
Gibbs officially wears two hats in the company that her grandfather started 50 years ago — marketing director and a sales consultant/designer.
But as happens in so many family businesses, her duties reach beyond her titles. She helps manage the firm’s philanthropic efforts, and assists in developing many programs meant to build and reinforce the firm’s culture, including planning an annual retreat.
Outside the company, she has, for several years, served on two committees for young professionals — the Master Pools Guild’s Generation Next, and the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance’s WAVE Young Professionals Network. On the latter, she has served as co-chair. The goal is to bring young professionals together for support, foster mentorship from established company owners, and attract younger workers into the industry.
Gibbs recently stepped down from her Generation Next post to take a position on MPG’s marketing committee, which oversees events, web-based marketing and messaging.
Well-rounded resume
In its reasons for awarding Gibbs, PHTA noted she has experience in just about every aspect of a pool/spa business.
During high school, Gibbs spent summers working in the retail store, selling hot tubs, pool accessories and other items along with various other duties. During college, summers were spent in the company’s corporate office, working on its ISO recertifications, helping with marketing and sales. At this time, she started the company’s Instagram page, which she maintained during the school year.
Gibbs earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and business from Wilfrid Laurier University, near Toronto.
“I found that the joint effort of sociology and business is really a cool outlook, because sociology is a lot about society,” she says. “So I thought it was kind of nice to do an art and a business — a little bit of practical and a little bit more on the theory side.”
After graduating, Gibbs stepped outside the company, working for Zodiac Pool Systems (now Fluidra) as an incentives coordinator, for seven months.
“It was a cool opportunity to see the industry from the manufacturing side,” she says. “And it was a really amazing opportunity to … not be the boss’s daughter, to pave my own path, create my own name for myself.”
When she returned to Gib-San, her father, President/CEO Ed Gibbs, wanted her to run the company’s marketing. She accepted, but on one condition.
“I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, ‘… I don’t want it to look like things were handed to me because I’m the daughter,’” she says. “So I decided to go back to school and get a post-graduate degree in marketing management, so that I’d have the credentials.”
She earned that degree at Toronto-based Humber College.
Her latest educational achievement was becoming a Genesis Certified Master Pool Builder & Design Professional.
To the future
In observing the current generational shift, Gibbs sees technology has played a major role in helping younger pros find their place, as they help their companies adopt automated tools and social media.
“It’s amazing that the young generations can come in and show some new ways of doing things — new strategies and tools that they may have learned about through their education.”
But recruiting others will require the right messaging, she adds — “really showing the next generation that there’s a spot for them and how exciting this industry is. When people ask me what I do for work, I say that I literally bring health, wellness and happiness into people’s homes. Not many people can say they do that for their career.”
