Key topics covered

• The founding story of NETS

• Early career memories from Dom and Bob

• Mentorship and lifelong partnerships

• Building a business with purpose and faith

• Navigating layoffs, recessions, and 9/11

• Learning leadership through reading and failure

• The culture of 8-to-4:30 and true work-life balance

• Legacy giving: Over $1M donated to causes

• Personal reflections on regret, growth, and pride

Here’s a summary of the transcript of this conversation. We highly recommend watching or listening to the full show!

Intro:

Welcome to In The Loop, a New England Temperature Solutions podcast. In today’s episode, Dominick DeLuca and Bob Pierce take a walk through the history of NETS. They’ll bring you back to the company’s roots and show how it has grown over the years to become your trusted source for industrial temperature control solutions.

Bob:
Hello, and thanks for joining us today. We’re going to give you a history of NETS. I’m Bob Pierce, and joining me is Dominick DeLuca, the owner of NETS.

Dom:
Thanks, Bob. It’s definitely been a journey—and you were there at the beginning. Actually, you were there even before the beginning.

Bob:
That’s true.

Dom:
Several years ago, I was asked to write the story of my life. When I laid everything out—from childhood into my fifties—I realized the story of this company actually began when I was 15. Looking at my life from a 30,000-foot view, I could see how all the pieces led to this.

Let’s go back to 1975. I got a job at the La Salette Shrine Cafeteria in Attleboro as a cook. I was cooking for hundreds of people and, believe it or not, at 15 years old, I was put in charge of the cafeteria a lot of the time.

Bob:
I remember that place!

Dom:
And you were around then because your girlfriend, who’s now your wife, was the mayor’s daughter. Everyone knew her.

Bob:
Right! In high school, I remember pointing her out and someone said, “That’s the mayor’s daughter—she’s way out of your league.” And yet, here we are 44 years later.

Dom:
You and I weren’t close back then, but we crossed paths. Then I moved on to work at Bliss Sandwich Shop. I had cooking experience and got into management pretty quickly—even at 17. That’s where I met Gloria and Sharon Latham. Gloria was a waitress there forever—everyone knew her.

Bob:
I remember Gloria!

Dom:
I didn’t go to college—I tried one business class at community college, but I failed with a 54. I still laugh about that test. My favorite question was, “The art of management is controlling subordinates.” I answered true. It was false, but some would still argue!

Eventually, I went to work at Foxboro Company. And who do I run into? You.

Bob:
We officially met there—working as system checkout specialists.

Dom:
You even went with me to pick up my first dog, Laddie, during a lunch break. I wasn’t a dog person, but my wife wanted one. Out of 100 barking dogs at the shelter, I chose the one that was just lying there quietly.

Bob:
And he turned out to be a great dog.

Dom:
We worked together at Foxboro, and that led to my introduction to a sales role. I met a guy named Rick at a church event—he worked for Barber-Colman. He told me they had an opening. That was April 1984. And I never would’ve gotten that opportunity without the path that started back at Bliss.

Bob:
I joined Barber-Colman a year later, in 1985. You brought me in when things were going downhill at Foxboro.

Dom:
Yep. You became the plastics applications engineer, I was on the industrial side. We were in the same office but different markets. I did a lot of training at their Rockford, Illinois office—spent what felt like a month there in one day!

Bob:
I trained in Hackensack, NJ, but yeah, same experience.

Dom:
In 1987, I was offered a full-time sales role at Barber-Colman, but they didn’t pay me what I was worth. So I left and worked for Davis Associates. After nine months, I was fired—in the Bose parking lot, with a new baby at home.

Bob:
I remember that.

Dom:
Barber-Colman wanted me back, and I wanted to go back. I rejoined them, and we worked together again in East Providence. Then in 1991, we got a Sunday call from our regional manager Dave Walters—he said, “You’re golden.” They were laying off the entire direct salesforce across the country—except four of us.

Bob:
Right. You and I were two of those four.

Dom:
They wanted us to commit on the spot to covering the entire East Coast. I said I couldn’t do it. I had a family, a church ministry—it wasn’t the right life for me.

Bob:
I took the offer, but it wasn’t easy. Constant travel. Very stressful.

Dom:
The next day, John Perry and I asked if we could be reps for the company. Somehow, they said yes. That was the beginning of NETS—New England Temperature Solutions—on September 17, 1991.

Bob:
We were brainstorming names, and I said, “How about New England Temperature Solutions?” And NETS was born!

Dom:
You should’ve copyrighted it!

Bob:
Too late now!

Dom:
The company gave us thousands of accounts—but forgot to remove 10 they wanted to keep. We got a $10,000 commission check by mistake and they told us to keep it. That was a miracle. We had no money. Banks wouldn’t give us a loan unless we gave them the money first!

Bob:
I stayed on at Barber-Colman until 1992, then bounced around a bit—working for a systems integrator and then CSE in Pawtucket.

Dom:
We kept in touch the whole time. And in 1999, we agreed—if the world didn’t end with Y2K, you had a job.

Bob:
January 1, 2000—I joined NETS. And Y2K was crazy. I had someone ask for a Y2K certificate for a thermocouple. I said, “It’s as compliant as a fork.”

Dom:
Then 9/11 hit. We were both on the road that day. Business tanked, and we moved the company into my basement to survive. From there, we rebuilt.

In 2004, I discovered the Global Leadership Summit. That changed everything. I started reading—60 books in one year. I learned I was an entrepreneur and realized I was doing things I hated—things Bob loved. So we split responsibilities: Bob took engineering, I focused on sales.

Bob:
It was a turning point.

Dom:
Then 2008 hit—another recession. But we knew how to scale down. It was tough, but we made it through.

Bob:
Literally checking if the phones still had a dial tone.

Dom:
In 2010, we took on the Foxboro Company product line and kept building. Around then, we also started making videos. It’s helped us reach more customers and grow our brand.

We’ve streamlined in recent years, focusing solely on temperature control.

Bob:
Through all of it, the company got stronger.

Dom:
I’m proud that we built a company on an 8 to 4:30 schedule. We respected work-life balance, and our team appreciated that. Over the years, we’ve donated nearly a million dollars to charity. I also got to work with my dad, my children, and even my wife at times. It’s been a family business in many ways.

And having you, Bob, on this journey—25 years—it’s been a blessing.

Bob:
Same here, Dom. We’ve been through a lot together.

Dom:
Thanks to you and to everyone who’s been part of this story.

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