Burch Craig

Born May 1, 1950 in Rochester, New York I am president of Craig Autometrics, Inc. I founded Craig Autometrics in October 1980 at our former location 74 Grove Street.

My start in the automotive repair field was the spring of 1976 at Fort Hill Service Center an Exxon station located at the corner of Route 15 and 15A (Mt. Hope Ave. and E. Henrietta Rd.) in Rochester. After several months of working there the owner, Harris Fulton, was retiring and the station was closing. He called a fellow Exxon Station owner, Joe Virgo, and got me a job there (Clover Hills Service Center). This station was located close to home and I worked there part-time during high school and vacation days. After a two year sabbatical at Boston University and a brief sojourn to the Western States I assumed a full-time position for six months. That puts us at Spring of 1972 and I once again put on my traveling hat and moved to Boston where I opened a repair shop, Autohaus Engineering, with a partner. After about a year and half and my partner having "departed" from the business, I decided that the future as a one person repair shop did not have a lot of upside potential in Boston. Boston was a fun place to be and live but it didn't have the feeling of home that Rochester did.

Returning to Rochester I resumed my employment at Clover Hills Sevice Center and worked on continuing to train myself in the business of automotive repair. From the owner, Joe Virgo, I learned the importance of SERVICE and CLEANLINESS. Joe insisted the floors be cleaned every night or there was hell to pay if it wasn't. Hard work and taking care of the customer were the way to be.

In the spring of 1980 I took a month off to go sailing with my father along the East Coast from Connecticut to Bar Harbor Maine. It was during and after this journey that I decided that I was not going to continue working at a gas station for someone else. I really did not know what to do just that what I was doing wasn't what I wanted. I also happened to be 30 years all and it was a time of life to make a change. So in September I gave my notice and left the job.

Then my brother-in-law (Staffan Lundback) happened to hear of garage space for rent in downtown Rochester. It was 3500 sq. ft. of space connected to a body shop on the back side of the only residential neighborhood in the central business district. I rented it and on October 1, 1980 opened the doors as Craig Autometrics Inc.

Since that time employees have come and gone, we have expanded renovated and moved, I've been married divorced and remarried. All part of living and learning life.

I'm now married to a wonderful woman, Louise, and Craig Autometrics is located in a great building, with tremendous potential in front of us. I'm happy to be working with a great ensemble of people in my life.

I am committed to integrity and growth in my life.

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