Focus on Leadership: Leading the business his grandfather started, Ray Mancini takes the long view for UCX’s partnerships, strategy and growth - July 2025

Interview by Kemp Harr

In 1959, Antonio Mancini sold his hardware stores to purchase a beverage distribution business in Providence, Rhode Island. Twenty-two years later, in 1981, that business diversified into the flooring distribution business. The flooring division was led by Antonio’s son, Ray Sr., and was known for years as the Belknap White Group. Much of its focus was on distributing Armstrong flooring.

In 1997, Ray Mancini Jr. took over as president, and he has continued to grow the business. Over the last six years, the company has expanded its national footprint through the acquisitions of JJ Haines and Swiff-Train Company. Last summer, the company rebranded as UCX, which stands for “ultimate customer experience,” as a means of uniting the business identity for its consumer base. Today, it is the largest full-line distributor in the U.S. and remains family-owned.

Mancini and his family reside in Cranston, Rhode Island. 

Q: Your grandfather Antonio lived by the adage, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” Does that still ring true with you as you lead UCX? 

A: Yes, my grandfather’s adage still rings true today. In fact, it is part of our onboarding. However, the way we use it today is for every team member to take ownership in their role. Instead of pointing fingers, ask, “What can I do to make it better?” We want to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit my grandfather had continues within UCX’s culture. Our philosophy today is similar to what it has been for a long time; we have a strong team culture working together to help our customers and business partners be successful.

Q: You attended Boston College because of a family relationship with the school. What did you study there? Why did you pick Bryant University for your MBA?

A: My family has a long history with Boston College. It is a legacy school, with my father, myself and my older son all attending. I majored in finance but got a strong Jesuit educational experience, meaning a lot of theology and philosophy in my freshman and sophomore years. To this day, my family still does football tailgates, and the big home game this year is against Notre Dame.

I attended Bryant University for my MBA while working full time, so one of the main drivers was a good business school near our flooring distribution facility in Smithfield, Rhode Island. In the ’90s, there were a lot of case study group projects, so I got to know many classmates well. In fact, I hired two of them. One classmate, Paul Castagliuolo, has been with us for over 25 years and is currently president of UCX. Another classmate used to lead the operational side of our business but is no longer with us. So, it turned out to be both a good business education and a place to recruit talent.

Q: As the story is told, it was your father Ray Sr.’s idea to diversify the family distribution business into floorcovering. How did that come about? Why flooring?

A: At the time, my dad wasn’t sure the beverage company was going to big enough for my sister and two brothers and thought buying into another branded distribution business-something we knew-would be a good idea. It just so happened that one of his banker friends was aware of a business called Ballou Johnson & Nichols that was closing its doors, and it had a flooring distribution division with Armstrong as its lead brand. Our beverage business was built on brands such as Coors, Johnnie Walker Scotch and others, so brands have always been an important part of the business. 

My dad was interested, but the business was small, doing about $1 million in sales annually. My father went to Armstrong to see if we had opportunity to grow with them, and they said that they would allow us to grow as long as we proved to be a good distributor. So, getting into the flooring business was not a grand strategy but has worked out well for our family.

Q: The business you lead, UCX, is the largest full-line distributor in the U.S., and it’s family-owned. Why should that be important to your customers? 

A: One is that we think long term with our business, looking out five to ten years. We are trying to figure out what is best for our customers long term and how we can make it easy for them to do business and be more successful. Most of our customers are also family-owned, so we believe we can relate to and understand their business because we are going through the same things. Whether it is recruiting for talent, succession, lines of credit or streamlining processes, we see those opportunities through an entrepreneurial, family-owned lens. Also, being full-line or single-source we believe makes it easier for them to run their business. Getting it right the first time makes such a big difference. Being the largest is not so important or a goal of UCX’s; being a leader in giving creative, reliable service with innovative products along with the best brands in the industry is what we are trying to do. We are working hard to do the basics extremely well.

Q: For years, the family’s allegiance under the Belknap White name was to Armstrong. How have the brands you do business with evolved over the years?

A: When I first started in the business, our core customers predominantly sold carpet and vinyl, which was probably 85% or more of our customers’ business. Armstrong was the strongest brand name and had close to 45% of the vinyl share. Today, our customers are much more diversified, selling all flooring categories. So, there are many more brands in the store. Also, private label has become a much bigger part of the business; in fact, some retailers have chosen to only have private label. We believe brands still add value, but they are not as strong as they were. In many industries, there is an evolution where the strength shifts from brands to private label. In flooring, private label seems to be the trend right now, but we expect a shift back to brands over the next decade. UCX’s strategy is to have both a branded and private-label product portfolio. We do have a bias toward brands.

Q: I know you believe that wood makes a great floor. What drives that passion?

A: When private equity bought Hoboken Floors and exited the hardwood business, we picked up many of their Boston-based personnel, and several years later, we bought Patriot Flooring in New York. After that, wood was our biggest flooring category until the pandemic. Due to our wood sales and the people we brought on having such a passion for hardwood, it kind of stuck with me. Wood is such a beautiful floor, with great durability and a strong wellness story to it. In addition, it adds value to the consumer’s home. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When I walk into showrooms, the hard surface section all looks like wood, with laminate, SPC, WPC and ceramic all having wood looks. We want to make sure we have a full portfolio of the products our customers need so that the consumer can make an informed choice.

Q: In 2019, you acquired JJ Haines, and in 2022, you acquired Swiff-Train, so now you service 28 states and 70% of the population. Why is scale so important in the distribution business? 

A: When my family first entered the distribution business, Shaw and Mohawk were carpet mills that went direct, and we were primarily a hard surface distributor. Our competition was local and family-owned. That has changed dramatically over the last several decades. With the carpet mills getting into all flooring surfaces and private equity entering the distribution business, there has been much consolidation resulting in many larger regional or national players. We believe that to compete in this changing environment, we need to source products from all over the world, be able to purchase at very competitive prices, invest capital in inventory, and turn it quickly to give good fill rates and service. We think consolidation is going to continue, and, in order to get a reasonable return to our shareholders and deliver competitive products and services, we believe you need economies of scale.

Q: What is UCX’s purpose?

A: You know, Kemp, we went through a lot of name choices before our third-party marketing company, The Blake Project, came up with the name UCX. It wasn’t our first choice, but it stuck around for several iterations and, eventually, won out. The main reason is that the name states our purpose to all our team members daily. UCX stands for the “ultimate customer experience.” To create this customer experience for our customer and our customers’ customer is our purpose. We work hard to create a culture where everyone knows their role in achieving this purpose and is fully engaged in helping us achieve it.

Q: What roles do people and relationships play in your business? 

A: We constantly reinforce to our team that people, service, and products, in that order, are the key to our success. It all starts with people; having the best people who work together is where all good things start. They deliver the service and purchase the products. Also, although we are in the business of selling floors, the key is building strong relationships with our customers. They trust us; we are reliable; we do what we say we are going to do. So, our people and the relationships we develop are the core of the business.  

Q: Through all your acquisitions, you’ve had to make a ton of people decisions. How do you choose whether someone is right for your team? What character traits do you look for?

A: UCX has a long-standing vision, mission and values. When making people decisions, we choose people who we think will be the best cultural fit. Some core character traits we look for include whether the candidate is hard working, enjoys being a team player, is a good human-trustworthy, displaying integrity, caring-and has a competitive spirit with a bias toward winning.

Q: Why did you go with one brand and risk losing the equity that had been built with Belnap White in the Northeast, JJ Haines in the Southeast and Swiff-Train in the Southwest?

A: Over the last 30 years, between Belknap White and JJ Haines, we acquired somewhere between 15 and 20 floorcovering distributors. When I went into the trade, customers would still identify us with companies that were acquired, such as Patriot Hardwood, CMH, Wheeler and others. It was really fragmented, so we decided to make a clean break and be identified by one name: UCX. It was a tough decision; however, we believe long term it will serve us well to have a singular identity. We are very pleased with the transition and the marketing our team has done in this changeover.

Q: Who are your mentors, and what did they teach you?

A: There have been many mentors, but three stand out. One is my dad, who has taught me throughout my life, by example, to do your best to be a gentleman. As it relates to business, he emphasized three things: hard work, continuous learning and valuing people as your most important asset. 

Another big mentor was Bob Spellymeyer, former owner of Alcco and a board member for 20 years. Spelly’s motto was “God, family, friends and flooring.” He had a good mix of all of them and a real passion for the business and for life. 

Lastly, Bill White, former owner of Nelson Small and White, who worked with us for 20-plus years. He was the best salesman I ever met and genuinely loved the people side of the business and relished competition. The three of them really help shape my perspective on business and life. 

Q: Your family has invested heavily in the flooring business and so did Warren Buffett. Why do you think the flooring industry is a wise investment endeavor?

A: The flooring business is simple and straightforward to understand, although that does not make it easy. It is a big-ticket item with color and design a major consideration, so people want to make sure they make the right decision, which makes research as well as seeing and touching the products a necessity. Further, flooring needs to be installed, which adds complexity to the buying process. All of these things make it less likely to be bought through e-commerce. Lastly, people are going to always need floors, so demand will be there, and we believe the demographics are good for strong demand over the next several years once interest rates come down.

Q: I notice that you like golf, poker, chess and cooking. What do you like the most about each of these activities?

A: The best thing about having hobbies is that it gives me much-needed downtime from the flooring business. I believe it is very important to make sure you are continually re-energizing yourself from your work. I do this with family and hobbies. What I enjoy about golf, poker and cooking is the people I do it with: family and friends, which includes business friends. Also, I enjoy chess, which is mostly done online, because you must always think several moves ahead, which keeps my mind sharp.

Q: How do you manage family time with the demands of the business?

A: I am sure I have not mastered this one, but I have gotten better with work-family balance over time. The key for me is making the time to be there with the family. Basically, I try to have one long weekend every other month, several vacations per year and attend all family events-holidays, birthdays and get-togethers-as best I can. Overall, I feel fortunate for the family and business life I have. We just put together our five-year business plan; we call it Keep It Going to 2030. We are very optimistic about the flooring industry and are looking forward to the next generation of leadership taking the reins, which will allow my work-life balance to get much better.