page_title: W.B. Mason
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: W.B. Mason / History
caption_attribution_description: English: W.B. Mason Building, Brockton Massachusetts
context_page_description: W.B. Mason is a Family Owned American business products company headquartered in Brockton, Massachusetts.
  The company was founded in 1898 and started out selling rubber stamps and stencils for the Brockton shoe industry; it has since expanded into office supplies, janitorial and sanitation products, break room supplies, foodservice products, custom printing, and other business supplies.
  W.B. Mason has 70 distribution centers and 3,800 employees, including 1,000 sales representatives. It leases 1,100 delivery trucks from Ryder, and services more than 300,000 businesses across the United States.
context_section_description: W.B. Mason was founded in 1898 by William Betts Mason in Brockton, Massachusetts, and its corporate headquarters remain in Brockton. The company started as a business that sold printed products, engraved products, and rubber stamps.
  As the city of Brockton expanded in the early 20th century, largely due to the shoe industry, W.B. Mason expanded its sales offerings to include office supplies.
  William Betts Mason ran the company until his death in 1912. The Mason family continued to oversee the company until the 1920s under William's wife, Marcena. In the late 1920s, W.B. Mason was sold to an employee and Brockton businessman, Samuel Kovner, who started his career out by sweeping the floors at W.B. Mason as a boy. Under Kovner, the company reached sales of $243,000.
  In 1963, Kovner sold the company to his daughter and son-in-law, Helen and Joseph Greene. The Greenes added furniture to the business and the company reached nearly a million dollars in sales by Greene's death in 1973. The Greene's son Steve took over leadership of the company.
  In 1983, Steve Greene and his brother, John Greene, took over ownership from their mother and invited long standing employee, Leo Meehan, to join in ownership of the company. In 1993, Steve Greene replaced his mother Helen Greene as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. At this point, the company's sales were $20 million.
  Upon Greene's appointment to the board, Leo Meehan became the President and CEO of the company. Under Meehan, the company adopted a new corporate strategy focusing on local service, personalized sales, and free delivery. W.B. Mason reached sales of $247 million by 2001. 
  Ten years later, in 2011, the company reached $1 billion in sales. In November 2013, W.B. Mason partnered with Lyreco to provide international delivery. W.B. Mason is currently owned by the Greene and Meehan families.
caption: East facing view of W.B. Mason Headquarters located in the Smith, Bay State Block, and Howard Tolman Buildings[6]
  Centre Street Brockton, Massachusetts
  (September 2011)
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