Carter Beard’s first day on the job in the family business in 1988 was one for the books. That day, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush was visiting the factory in New Jersey, and the 1987 University of Richmond grad was in charge of showing the space to the Secret Service.

“I was there to help the Secret Service plan the tour route, and to cover up windows with fabric to take away any sight lines for a sniper,” Beard said. After the tour, however, his father had a surprise for him.

“I started with the Bush tour, and then my father said, ‘Why don't you go over Monday morning to the other factory and be a sewing machine mechanic?’"

“His advice was just work in all the areas you can,” Beard said. “Learn the company from the ground up.”

Beard took the advice and went from sewing machine mechanic to silk screen printer, then managed a sewing operation.

Beard was named CEO in 2011 and is a sixth-generation member of his family to lead Annin Flagmakers, founded in 1847. The company manufactured some of the most recognizable U.S. flags in history. His father, Carter Lee Beard Sr., was the vice president of operations for Annin for nearly 40 years before becoming president of the company.

Flags produced by Annin include the one draped over Abraham Lincoln’s coffin when it traveled across the country by train to Springfield, Illinois, where he was buried. The American flag planted on the moon is an Annin flag. And, the flag raised at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001, was created by the company.

Beard knew Michael Finnegan and Thomas ‘T.C.’ Clark, two of the University of Richmond alumni who died on 9/11, and said seeing the flag raised gave him hope that day.

“It's a very strong emotional connection when you make the flag and the flag is associated with these events,” Beard said. “You feel very proud.”

Beard has two children in high school and says he can’t help but wonder whether they will follow in his footsteps to Richmond, and eventually Annin Flagmakers.

“They could potentially be the seventh generation to work at Annin,” he said. “My father never really pressured me to work there. He exposed me to it, but never said, ‘After college you're going to come back and work at Annin.’ I'm going to do the same with my children. I'm going to let them choose to do what they want to do. But there's a side of me, that if they decide to come back and work at Annin and be the seventh generation, it would be pretty neat.”

The family business began with Alexander Annin, the grandson of a Scottish immigrant, who started a nautical supply company in New York in 1820, selling various items for ships, including flags.

That was the budding business which passed through six generations to become Annin Flagmakers. Beard and his father, the former CEO who is now 89 and sits on the company’s board of directors, still talk shop. 

“We’re both operations guys,” he said. “I talk to him every few days, and he will still ask ‘How’s that installation on that new wash range going?’ We both have that pull, to want to work with your father or mother. That's how a lot of family businesses survive so long.”