BERNARD SKALNY  
owner

Bernard (Bernie) has life long experience working in the basket business. Born in 1956, Bernie's first job was working with his grandfather, his dad, aunt and uncles in the family based L. Skalny Basket Company of Rochester, NY . Working from the ground up, and over the years, Bernie gained experience in all aspects of the basket import and wholesale trade. In 1984, Bernie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BA in Business Management and started a new generation basket and packaging business, Willow Specialties. In the following years, Avery Imports and Skalny Basket Company were acquired and the Willow Group was established. Bernie loves all aspects of Willow Group and especially likes the challenges of sourcing new products, providing top notch service to all customers and making sure that Willow Group remains a family centered workplace and values based entity.  He is happily married with five children.

JAMES WALSH
owner

Born and raised in Springfield, Ohio, James (Jim) started working in the basket business in 1980. He sold Skalny Baskets to Willow Group Ltd. in 1998 and became an employee at that time. His position when he joined the company included product development, sales support and trade show coordinator. He has now stepped into larger roles as an owner and travels the world attending different tradeshows searching for new products to bring back to Willow.