June 12, 2018

We are delighted to tell you that Les Sparks is celebrating his 45th anniversary with Mercury Marine this year! Amelia Morris from Boating Industry Canada News Week got the opportunity to speak with Les directly about his 45-year career with Mercury Marine. 

It all started when Les was a wee lad of 12, and as he put it “All I wanted was a 13’ aluminium boat with a Mercury 9.8 outboard, because it was the fastest thing on the water, not dreaming that in 5 years I’d be working for Mercury Marine”. Well little did he know that beginning as a part-time employee at 17, he’d end up spending 45 years with the Mercury. There was a bit of a hitch for Les, which has turned into the all-time favorite company joke. At 17 he wanted to quit school to work for Mercury Marine, but his boss wouldn’t have any of it. He fired him (temporarily of course) and re-hired him once he’d finished both his high school education as well as a slew of College Business courses. Once he finished, he was immediately hired again and started right from the bottom, working at the warehouse. The rest is history, as he worked his way up with Mercury.

So, what has he been up to for the past 45 years? Well, a whole lot. Les deals directly with dealerships, travelling in person and forming great long-term relationships with them. He has also set up Mercury Marine distribution centers. In his earlier years, Les was transferred to British Columbia and set up the Vancouver distribution center. He spent 15 years travelling to dealers from Vancouver all the way up to the Yukon. He returned to Ontario and continued travelling about, furthering his dealership connections. He is currently working with dealers in Ontario.

When asked how this developed into a 45 year-strong career with Mercury Marine he said, “The people are great, the company is great, and I’ll be working here as long as my health holds up!” Clearly there is a lot to be said about his dedication both to Mercury Marine and the Marine Industry in general.

Mercury Marine President, John Pfeifer sent a letter to Les, saying, “Congratulations on your 45 years of service! It’s hard to believe you started when you were 17 years old and look how far you have come Les. You have reached an important milestone at Mercury Marine and we are already looking forward to helping you celebrate your 50th anniversary! Thank you for the many years of service and dedication to making our Mission, Vision and Values come true every day for our customers.”

Congratulations Les, we appreciate your contribution to both Mercury Marine and the boating industry – we are celebrating with you!