After forty-three years in the fastener industry, the last fifteen spent with Vogelsang, Nick Penney is retiring from his role as National Sales Manager, but not from life. His departure signals the graceful culmination of years of thoughtful consideration and a desire to spend more time with his family, traveling, and pursuing his favorite hobbies.
Retirement, for Nick, isn’t about slowing down. Porch rockers and Early Bird Specials have no place in his future tales. Instead, he looks forward to being even more active—if that’s possible for someone who has (as of this writing) traversed 49 of the 50 United States, all while pursuing a career, raising three children, doting on one grandchild, and enjoying pastimes that include wood carving and lapidary.
“Dorothy and I always planned to retire at the same time,” Nick explains when asked about his timing.
He and his wife spent years carefully laying out their next steps, thinking through the finances, and lining up the necessary pieces for a successful transition.
But why now? What finally nudged him from “planning” to taking that leap of faith into the next phase of life?
“We’ve been thinking a lot about our granddaughter,” he says, in a rare moment of personal candor. Nick has always been a reliable colleague, the first to lend a hand or crack a joke, but he is often a private person when it comes to his life outside of work.
“She’s growing up fast,” he says of the impish, four-year-old mini-version of himself, “And we wanted to be more involved in her life, more of an active part of her growing up, being there, going to the soccer games.” Nick pauses to reflect, and you can hear the anticipation and a growing excitement in his voice. “You know, the dances, the school things that they do. That was really the catalyst; that’s where that decision process started.”
Nick Penney and his granddaughter, Kyliegh, affectionately known as Ky Ky, enjoying Belmar beach in New Jersey.
So will he be relocating from his New Jersey home to Illinois to be near his granddaughter? You bet!
“We’re putting things into play to get that in motion. Last time we were in Illinois, we looked at several houses. We want to move, preferably to a lake home, but at least somewhere close to the water.”
That makes perfect sense given how much he and Dorothy enjoy swimming, boating, and fishing.
“We’re always by the water, in all our vacation photos,” he adds, and then that infamous wit surfaces as he describes his backyard pool at home. “We call it the Lobster Pot because my sons Gavin, Dan, and I always burn, and everyone says we look like a bunch of red lobsters floating in the pool.”
Nick and his wife, Dorothy, at a winery in Santorini, Greece.
The family is currently spread out across Illinois, Colorado, and Alaska, but there’s ongoing discussion about finding a common home base. Will Illinois be the family’s final destination, or are they considering other locations?
“Everyone may end up moving to Illinois eventually. But we’ve also talked about Michigan. Possibly Wisconsin.”
Whatever happens, it’s clear that Nick is up for an adventure, and “roots” simply means “wherever family is.”
Travel is also high on the retirement agenda. He and Dorothy already have their “retirement moon” planned: a trip to St. Martin in February, a month in Europe, and a journey to Alaska, completing Nick’s quest to visit all 50 states.
Nick and Dorothy experiencing the sights in beautiful Santorini, Greece.
Ask a 50-Stater what it means to visit a state, and the answers will be as spread across the map as the places they’ve visited. For Nick, it means more than driving through. It means boots on the ground, experiencing the sights, meeting people, and sometimes, visiting customers.
“I’m not talking about just flying through,” he says, “But actually spending time there. When you see the pictures from our trips, you’ll see us visiting different sites, hiking, doing a lot of exploring. We want to finish up hiking the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey. We’ve got about 40 of the 76 miles done so far. And then I want to do a little bit more golf, fishing, and more of my hobbies. I carve, wood carving, and I want to get back into lapidary.”
Lapidary—the art of cutting, polishing, and setting stones—has been a particular passion since his father introduced it to him as a child. Nick dives into the details, explaining how he built his own home workshop, how he and Dorothy collect semiprecious stones by the lake for him to craft and gift.
When asked if he would consider setting up a side business, he pauses. “You know, it could be something we might do. I could see there being a little bit of a market.”
You can practically hear the gears spinning, then settling into place. ” I might… I might not. Retirement is not about working, it’s about enjoying.”
And enjoying life is precisely what Nick has planned. In addition to his myriad other hobbies, gardening and photography are also top of the list.
“We love our gardens, and I love photography. Our entire backyard is planted for pollinators. Hummingbirds, butterflies. I’ve got some great pictures of wildlife, and many of the pictures that are on our walls were taken by me.”
The illustrious backyard pollinator garden, visted by a ruby-throated hummingbird.
It’s clear by now that Nick isn’t retiring so he can take it easy. He will be as vibrant and energetic in this new phase as he was throughout his career.
“If I go to the beach, I can read a book for a while,” he says, unapologetically. “But then I have to swim or walk. We’re not doing this to become less active—we’re doing this to become more active.”
And Nick’s professional life has certainly been vibrant. He’s made a lasting impact through customer relationships, team development, and market expansion. When asked about his accomplishments, he speaks humbly. This is not a man who expects award walls to be erected to him, but who takes quiet pleasure in being the best he can be.
Nick representing Vogelsang at the Mid-Atlantic Fastener Distribution (MAFDA) holiday party.
“I’ve been responsible for getting good market penetration for our products, especially tension bushings,” he begins, understating what has been a tremendously successful career in building meaningful—and profitable—business relationships.
“I’ve done a lot of work developing new sales channels,” he continues, “Especially in agriculture, waste, construction, and recycling. And I’ve helped develop the team here at Vogelsang, trained our folks, and put together strategies for helping them grow and become better professionals.”
He’s known for deep product knowledge and an unwavering willingness to help anyone in the organization, whether in sales, warehousing, or purchasing.
“My door’s always open,” he says. “People come in all the time with questions, and I’ll stop what I’m doing to help them. If there’s a quality question, people come and ask me. I’m not a quality manager, but that’s how deep my knowledge is, that people trust me with those questions.”
Nick and Managing Director Dale Stuban at Vogelsang’s annual company picnic.
As for his official title? “Sales” is only part of it. “I’d actually say one of my biggest accomplishments is the ability to work with every single department here. There’s no such thing as ‘not my job.’ You wear whatever hat needs to be done for the organization.”
It’s a style built on trust and reliability rather than the stereotypical salesperson schmoozing.
“This industry is about relationships,” Nick says with conviction. “It’s about your ability to connect with different folks, because when you’re selling somebody, you’re selling them for years. We’re not a one-and-done on anything.”
Nick, left, decked out as a superhero for the Mid-West Fastener Association FSTNR Week.
As a 43-year veteran of the fastener industry, Nick has clearly baked the proof into his own pudding.
“People want answers. And folks want to buy from people that they know who are going to be there for them. They want someone they can rely on, not someone who tells them what they want to hear, but someone who is honest with them. That would actually be one of my shining stars, actually building the relationships with people… internally and externally.”
Being straight-up is a badge of honor for Nick, from his down-to-earth sense of humor to his seemingly effortless ability to make people feel genuinely valued. If he’s had to work at this skill, he doesn’t show it. He’s as authentically himself decked out in flamingo-themed attire during the annual Polar Bear Plunge, which he attends as a representative of Vogelsang, as he is during a meeting of the Metropolitan Fasten Distributor Association, where he has served as Vice President for the past several years.
His philosophy has earned him respect from colleagues and customers alike. Even competitors recognize his character.
“When my father-in-law was passing away and I had to leave a trade show unexpectedly, my competitor came over to me and said, ‘Nick, I will take care of your booth, I’ll get this thing taken care of for you. The only thing I need to do is I need a picture with me in your booth.’ I said, ‘Fine, thank you,’ and we’ve laughed about it for years. We go head-to-head on price. But we can be humans outside of it.”
Nick and wife Dorothy, left, sporting flamingo attire after taking the Polar Bear Plunge in support of the Special Olympics.
Trade shows and industry events have brought Nick a different kind of joy. He fondly recalls fastener association events, where networking mattered more than the trade show floor. And as a travel lover, he’s always enjoyed new locations and experiences, if not always the stress of lost luggage and long delays.
Orlando stands out as a favorite location; Las Vegas, less so.
“I’m not a huge gambler,” he says. “And good grief, I went to a deli, and I got a water and a sandwich, and it was forty bucks!”
Would it be fair to say that he won’t miss the hassle of business travel?
“You know, I’m not going to miss that aspect of it—the delays, the getting there, the finding where to go eat. But I’ll miss the people. There are a lot of good customers I’m going to miss. When I walked out of the last trade show, that was a bit rough. I had them play *The Final Countdown*. There’s a lot of good folks that I’ve known over the years, and it’s a good industry. But yeah, it’s, it’s…”
His sentence trails off; it’s clear that he is emotional about his departure. Retirement may hold new joys, and his plans are as big as his smile, but closing the last chapter of this book is bittersweet.
“Even in business travel, you see that this country basically has really decent people. We go into places that are everything from mom and pops to full-blown, highly technical, multi-million dollar companies, and there are always really good folks there. That’s something that I’ve been able to experience and see firsthand. That’s been one of the best gifts of traveling.”
Nick pauses to reflect, his manner turning philosophical.
“And the other side of the coin is, because this is a relationship thing, folks that are, let’s say, a little rough around the edges, tend not to last too long. And I know I’m doing a brushstroke, but there are still some people out there who spend their lives seeing the glass as half empty, or the glass doesn’t exist.”
Then his mischievous self resurfaces. “But if my glass is half empty, that just means I’m halfway closer to my next glass of wine.”
Humor and camaraderie have always accompanied Nick’s dedication. He fondly remembers karaoke nights with industry peers, belting out “Margaritaville”, his signature song. “But I deny any knowledge of that ever happening,” he teases.
Nick connects with colleagues at the MFDA Toys for Tots fundraiser.
When asked how he hopes to be remembered, Nick’s answer is simple and sincere.
“I want to be remembered as a very helpful person,” he says, no hesitation. “I want to be remembered as being a very good team player.”
As Nick prepares to leave Vogelsang, it’s abundantly clear that retirement is not going to slow him down. He plans to stay active in the community, participating in charity walks, the Special Olympics, and other events near to his heart. And he intends to embrace life fully, to be a present grandparent, to travel, create, and continue being active in all the ways that matter most.
One of many happy family memories, with more to come.
His legacy is not only in the work he leaves behind but in the relationships he’s built, the people he’s helped, and the energy he brings to everything he does.
Infinitely patient, marvelously good-natured, loved and appreciated by competitors, colleagues, and family alike, it’s easy to see why, as he confessed, “I had one of our warehouse workers actually walk over and was in tears that I was leaving.”
Tough shoes to fill. For anyone brave enough to try, he offers this advice: “Be flexible. Come in and learn. Learn about the team, so you can build on their strengths. Build trusting relationships with the customers. It’s a very professional group of folks that are out there.”
Nick leaves behind not just years of knowledge, but a culture of camaraderie and integrity that will continue to shape Vogelsang long after his official last day. As he heads into this next chapter, all of us at Vogelsang wish him nothing but smooth sailing, full glasses, and endless adventures.
Thank you, Nick, for the humor, the wisdom, and the heart you’ve shared with all who have the privilege of knowing you. You’ll always be part of the Vogelsang family.
Wishing Nick a great catch.
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