At BTL Liners, the employees are just as important as the company itself. Every morning the BTL production team starts their day with a warm up to get ready for an active day fabricating custom liners for covering, containment, and conservation applications. With more than 35 years in the industry, all BTL Liners employees work together to help make the company a leading supplier of geomembrane liners and containment liners worldwide.
The company’s 84,000 square foot facility gives BTL the ability to make the largest panels in the industry. BTL is able to fabricate liners up to 150,000 square feet and is known for heat welding its seams every 350 feet. The more common practice in the industry is to weld seams every 20 feet. The benefit of this technique is less opportunity for seepage through seams.
These are just a few of the things that make BTL Liners a highly valued partner for several industries. The industries the company serves include oil and gas, mining, hydroponic farming, and agriculture. We sat down with Jared Santoro, Vice President, and General Manager at BTL Liners to learn more about his role at the company and to tell us about the great group of people who work there.
Q. TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHEN YOU STARTED WORKING FOR BTL?
A. I worked at BTL my junior year of high school. Following high school, I attended a community college for one year and then started with BTL as a summer job. It was a job I planned on having for a short period of time, but with all the travel opportunities at that age, I thought maybe I would take a year off from college. I never went back, but have been to almost every state and numerous countries around the world with BTL. I think the life lessons learned from extensive travel is an education in and of itself. I am on my 18th year with BTL. I started in the dishwashing room and am currently Vice President and General Manager.
Q. HOW DID YOUR ROLE WITH BTL EVOLVE OVER TIME?
A. Having spent 10+ years as a fabricator and installer, I bring a lot of experience to the table. By personally being trained in all facets of equipment operation and installation techniques, it really helps make my job easier now. When we have a challenging job to complete, I can relate well with our BTL Liners employees that are tasked with that work. For the past 7+ years, I have handled most material purchases and pricing structures and have a good grasp of our sales flows and pipelines. Sales is still a large portion of my day-to-day job, and all the past experience makes that job much easier to understand our customer’s needs and to visualize what they are up against.
Q. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE PRODUCT, AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT WORKING FOR BTL LINERS?
A. Having watched this company grow and achieve so much success in my time here, I am excited every day for what new opportunity or challenge may arise. I am sincerely proud of the team we have assembled and what every member brings to the table. We are constantly evolving and trying to come up with new or more efficient ways to do something, and sometimes the solution comes from one of the newest team members. It’s exciting when that happens. The family and team atmosphere is what I like most about BTL.
Q. TELL US ABOUT THE BTL LINERS EMPLOYEES CELEBRATING THEIR ANNIVERSARIES WITH THE COMPANY THIS YEAR?
A. We have two employees celebrating 20 years with BTL—Julio Lainez and Dimas Tejeda—whom I have known since I was a high school student just starting out at BTL. The average number of years an employee works at BTL is 8 years, which equals 200 combined years of industry experience.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO AFTER WORK AND ON THE WEEKENDS?
A. Outside of work I have many interests. Most of my interests involve being outdoors. Mountain biking, kayaking, golfing, hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, and sports shooting would be at the top of the list. I also enjoy projects where I build or make something by hand. Most all of this I do with my better half. I have a 10-year-old son named Weston and fiancé named Tisha and her daughter Stevie, is almost seven years old. Also, we have two cats (Shivers and Sniper), five chickens (Flappers, Goldy, Cochen, Americana, and Genghis), a dog (Caliber) and two snakes (Strike and Bella). Bonus: I can do a full to-the-ground one-legged squat and hold my breath for two minutes.
