Jimmy Creech grew up in eastern North Carolina, went to school at East Carolina University and graduated in 1973 with a bachelors degree and 1974 with a masters. He bleeds for the Pirates and his business, Industrial & Construction Enterprises, Inc.

After trying his hand at football coaching as a graduate assistant for one season, Creech realized that wasn’t the career path for him. He went back to his hometown of Wilmington and began working at Industrial Sales — for $165 a week in 1974.

“That was the best deal on the table, and so here I am with this degree and a masters degree on top of that working for $165 a week,” Creech said. “It was a good thing, and I learned the business from the ground up.”

Creech, along with his wife, own all three ICE Inc., with offices in Washington, Leland and Apex.

ICE Inc. sells complete piping, industrial, construction and safety supplies as wholesaler for industry.

“I worked for Buzzy Jones in Wilmington who owned Industrial Sales — he offered me a job with the intent of putting a branch in Washington,” Creech said. “I started in the warehouse, moved to inside sales, became the outside salesman, and a couple years later we leased a building on Hackney Avenue, which was an old bank and we refurbished it.”

A few years after leasing the building on Hackney, Creech purchased the company nearly 23 years ago and moved into his current location on U.S. Highway 264.

“I had the opportunity to buy this business and we retained the employees and customers, and they stuck with me and they gave me the opportunity to do what I could do, and take it to the next level,” Creech said.

When Creech purchased the company, he had to change the name because Buzzy Jones still used the name Industrial Sales in Wilmington and in South Carolina.

Creech describes his company has a 24-hour job and says that customers call day or night and on the weekend. It is all about service for ICE Inc., and he takes pride in his company’s service because he wanted to build it that way.

“It is a partnership, a business partnership because it works both ways,” Creech said. “Hopefully they need us, because we need them and we build the relationship on trust, reliability, confidence and we say what we’re going to do and it happens.”

“We have the stronger group in eastern North Carolina, inside and outside —personnel,” Creech said. “We are experienced, knowledgeable and know how to take care of the customer, day in and day out.”

One of the things that Creech prides his company on is the amount of awards they have won over the last 15 years. One of the most prestigious awards ICE Inc., has won was the Best Conversion Award in 2013 from supplyForce.

ICE Inc. is a member of the Affiliated Distributers, which provides leading independent distributers and manufacturers with support and resources that accelerate growth.  ICE Inc. has won several awards from AD, including “Highest Growth in Network” in 2011.

Though Creech says one of his favorite awards is for customer service as ‘Best Customer Service in America.’ The accolade was for a simple gesture to Nucor Steele, a company building Hertford, that needed a pipe fitting, so ICE Inc. drove to them, which led to over a million dollars in business.

“I think we have had a good run and I think it could be better,” Creech said. “We do give back to the community and we employ many people from Beaufort and Pitt Counties.”

Working in the profession for 40 years, he jokes that it has made him an old man, but it is exciting.