Fred Olsen, Chief Operating Officer of James D. Julia, Inc., writes a letter of recommendation for Andrew. Andrew worked directly for or reported to Olsen for over fourteen years, managing the company's Advertising, Toy & Doll Auction division. Andrew sourced high-end collectibles, cataloged items, handled customer issues, and grew the division to $2-4 million in sales. Olsen confirms that Andrew effectively implemented financial metrics and transitioned the company's sales model. The division is being sold to a competitor due to space constraints, despite Andrew's success in managing the mature business unit.

1. PO Box 830
RT. 201- Skowhegan Rd
Fairfield, Maine 04937
Phone: 207-453-7125
Fax: 207-453-2502
Antique Auctioneer & Appraiser
July 15, 2015
To whom it may concern,
Andrew and I have worked together for over fourteen years and for much of that time Andrew either worked
directly for me or had a dotted line responsibility to me with him as the head of the Advertising, Toy & Doll
Auction division at James D. Julia, Auctioneers and me as the General Manager. Andrew’s job was to conduct a
pair of auctions a year, which meant taking care of everything from sourcing product (almost all consigned from
around the world), cataloging, vetting photographs, scheduling, condition reports, customer issues and concerns
and above all, being the public face and in-house expert for this division of one of the top ten antique auctioneers
in the US.
One of the most difficult tasks would evolve as the JDJ company grew substantially; let me explain. We went
from being a $10 million regional auctioneer with some specialty divisions to being solely a specialty auctioneer
as our “general” product was weaned out of our company. By doing this, we became the focus for the collectors
of our product and our sales quadrupled and margins grew exponentially and Andrew was in the midst of this
growth. New financial metrics and sales methods were introduced and what once was a vacuum cleaner approach
to gathering product now became the goal of contracting only “cherry picked” high end collectibles at targeted
commission rates.
During this transition and even still today, Andrew’s sales method is the example of how best to source high-end
product. His implementation of the financial sales model was right on, he’s been consistent in making sure that
we were efficient in offering product with which we could make profits, rather than bringing in product that
couldn’t generate the gross margin to pay for the marketing costs.
Working together as long as we have and as close as we have on a daily basis, I can recommend Andrew as a
superlative employee on so many levels. He’s managed a $2 to $4 million business unit to the bottom line, has
owned problems, customer issues, vendors and contracted employees. He’s been beset by changing deadlines, late
paying buyers, problem customers and had to deal with all of them to get the auction finalized and the most
important part, get the payment to the consignor. Through this Andrew strikes the right chord when he’s
communicating; easy going when appropriate and firm when deadlines are approaching.
It is with a great deal of regret that I write this letter. We’re out of space in our facility and another of our
divisions is exploding in growth. When the offer came from a competitor to purchase the ATD division that
Andrew has grown and watch mature I’m sure that it was a no-brainer for our owner despite the heart-wrenching
effect that it would have on Andrew’s career here. Again, having worked with Andrew as long as I have, I heartily
recommend him and would be very happy to spend time either by phone or email to answer questions and discuss
his qualifications.
Best regards,
Fred Olsen
Chief Operating Officer
James D. Julia, Inc.