BoardConverting Serving the North American Corrugated and Folding Carton Industries Since 1985 October 5, 2026 VOL. 42 NO. 40
TAPPI/AICC: Selling An Independent Box Business BY GREG KISHBAUGH
Pratt Plans $97.6M Corrugated Plant In Iowa Atlanta, Georgia based Pratt Industries is planning to invest $97.6 million in a corrugat- ed packaging operation in Bondurant, Iowa - its first in the state. The Iowa Economic Development Authori- ty (IEDA) has approved $1.8 million in tax cred- its for the project through the state’s Business Incentives for Growth program. According to the IEDA, the planned facility will produce corrugated packaging and other corrugated products. More than $80 million of the total investment is expected to go to- ward manufacturing equipment. The project is expected to create 105 jobs, including 20 positions tied to a qualify- ing wage of $35.11 per hour under the state incentive program. The IEDA also said the in- vestment is expected to increase Pratt’s use of Iowa suppliers. The project is being developed by Pratt (4.0 Corrugating), LLC, a subsidiary of Pratt Corrugated Holdings. The IEDA describes the Bondurant operation as Pratt’s first manufac- turing facility in Iowa. No construction sched- ule or expected start-up date was provided in the state’s announcement.
Last week’s TAPPI/AICC Corrugated Week held in Fort Worth, Texas, showcased a lively discussion on the ways in which independent con- verters can prepare their companies for sale. The roundtable, moderated by Gene Marino from Akers Packaging, featured Billy Medof, Altamont Capital/Key Container; Dennis Mehiel, FourM; and Richard Brown, SupplyOne.
A monumental decision for any business owner, the roundtable of- fered a thoughtful analysis of selling a business, which included multi- ple real-life examples of ways in which to proceed. Marino : I’m with Akers Packaging Service Group. We’re a multi- plant, family-owned, third-generation business, primarily located in the Midwest, and happy to be here today with these 3 fine gentlemen. Medof : Key Container is a fourth-generation family-owned and founded box plant in Providence, Rhode Island. We’ve got a full-line box plant in Providence, a sheet plant about a mile away, and a third sheet plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was found- ed in 1959 by the Strauss family. We’re delighted to partner with the Strauss family to build this business in New England. By way of background, I was with Georgia-Pacific for about 12 years, and was President of Georgia-Pacific’s corrugated box business with facilities across the United States. Mehiel: My first job after pushing a broom in the factory was catch- CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 The panel, from left, included Richard Brown, SupplyOne; Dennis Mehiel, FourM; and Billy Medof, Altamont Capital/Key Container, and was moderat- ed by Gene Marino of Akers Packaging, far right.
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WHAT’S INSIDE 3 Two10 Technologies Wins BCN/AICC IOY Award 6 AICC Appoints Tonya Kowa-Morelli Vice President 12 UFP Packaging Opens New
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16 Harris American Company Opens New Training Center
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Pratt (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
The investment would further expand Pratt’s U.S. cor- rugated packaging footprint. In June, the company an- nounced a major expansion of its Rockwall, Texas, corru- gating facility, adding approximately 346,000 square feet and targeting 100 new jobs. Two10 Technologies Wins BCN/AICC Innovator Of The Year Award Last week in Fort Worth, Texas, over 1,500 attendees came together to learn about advancements in the corrugated industry, reconnect with familiar faces and foster new connections. Between networking receptions, engaging breakout sessions, and even an evening of line dancing and mechanical bull riding, the energy of camaraderie and community was palpable. Board Converting News and AICC co-sponsored the annual Innovator of the Year Award. There were seven entries for this year’s competition which were presented during the general session on Tuesday. The winner of the 2026 Innovator of the Year Award was Two10 Technolo- gies for their photo-based AI quoting application. The app connects to a plant’s ERP system to allow a photo to pro- vide datapoints to automate the spec creation, estimation, and structure drawing. This innovation reduces the aver-
age manpower to generate customer quotations from ap- proximately two hours to less than 10 minutes. Passing The AICC Chairman Gavel As is annual tradition, a new AICC Chairman was elect- ed: Mike Schaefer of Bedford Heights, Ohio based Tavens Packaging. Passing the gavel to Schaefer, Levesque offered a heartfelt message of gratitude for her time spent serving as AICC Chairman: “Serving as Chairman gave me an even deeper ap- preciation for Mike D’Angelo and the entire AICC staff. Terri-Lynn Levesque, outgoing AICC Chairman, left, and Len Prazych, President/Publisher of BCN, center, present Jason Hooston, CEO of Two10 Technologies, with the 2026 Innovator of the Year Award.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Corrugated Week (CONT’D FROM PAGE 3)
Corrugated Division Awards Being named a TAPPI Fellow is one of the highest distinctions in the organization. It recognizes individuals whose careers reflect exceptional service, leadership, and lasting impact on both TAPPI and the industry. This year, the honor was bestowed upon John Buzzell and Greg Jones, Executive Vice President of SUN Automation Group.
So much of what makes this association strong happens behind the scenes, often without any recognition. Their dedication to the AICC membership is exceptional, and I want them all to know how deeply grateful we are for ev- erything they do. You are the foundation that allows this
association to thrive. I’m truly grateful for the friendships and mentors I’ve made across AICC Canada, AICC Mexico, and throughout this incredible industry. The opportunity to serve something bigger than myself has meant more to me than you’ll ever know. And to Mike Schaefer, congratula- tions. May your board meetings be productive, your flights be on time, and your inbox be merciful.” Terri-Lynn Levesque, right, passed the AICC Chairman’s gavel to Mike Schaefer of Tavens Packaging.
In addition, Ellsworth L. Townsend, who is now retired from Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) was recog- nized with the Corrugated Lifetime Achievement Award. He exemplifies the vision, innovation and passion for the industry that the award represents. Lawton Phillips, right, and Greg Arvaginigan, left, present Greg Jones with the TAPPI Fellow Award.
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AICC Appoints Tonya Kowa-Morelli Vice President AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, has an- nounced the appointment of Tonya Kowa-Morelli as Vice President. Tonya brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, operations, and executive leadership within the packaging industry to the role. Tonya spent most of her career with Huston Patter- son, where she served as a third-generation owner and ultimately as President. Following the company’s sale to Private Equity in 2022, Tonya helped lead the growth and integration of the organization into Lewisburg Patterson Company, serving as Chief Operating Officer of the com- bined organization as a member of its Executive Leader- ship Team.
Tonya has been actively involved in AICC and the broader packaging industry throughout her career, serving as a member, speaker, and advocate for the next genera- tion of industry leadership.
“Tonya is a great addition to the AICC Staff,” said Mike D’Angelo, AICC President. “Her experience as an In- dependent owner and business lead- er, and the relationships she has with the membership, will have an immedi-
Tonya Morelli
ate impact and make a difference for years to come.” “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join the AICC team and serve an association that has meant so much to me and my family’s business. AICC played an im- portant role in Huston Patterson’s growth and success, and as a third-generation owner, I have a deep appreciation for the people and families behind independent businesses.
I’m thankful for Mike’s leadership and ex- cited to build on the strong foundation he and those before him have created while helping shape AICC’s future,” said Tonya Kowa-Morelli. Tonya’s husband, Joe Morelli, has also been an active leader within AICC and the packaging industry. The couple has been married for 19 years and are the proud par- ents of four children. In her new role, Tonya will continue working closely with AICC members, in- dustry leaders, and Association partners to support the organization’s mission of help- ing independent packaging businesses remain competitive and forward-thinking. Women In Packaging Connect Over Breakfast The final morning of Corrugated Week 2026 featured the Women in Packaging Breakfast, hosted by AICC’s Women in Packaging Group and TAPPI’s Women in Industry Division. This inspiring morning gathering brought together a room full of women and allies from across the industry for conversation and community. Simona Georgescu, founder and pres- ident of Adduco Communications, gave a compelling speech, What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There . She shared some of her own journey of reinvention as a way to navigate challenges in her business, and discussed three areas worth paying attention to: AI, fractional leadership, and knowledge retention. Additional details will be in a future is- sue of Board Converting News .
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Cascades Launches 100 Percent Recycled Brown Paperboard Kingsey Falls, Quebec based Cascades Inc. is launching Cascades lithoURB, a 100 percent recycled and recyclable paperboard developed to meet market demand for high- end lithographic printing for corrugated and folding carton packaging. This product allows for exceptional visual ren- dering while maintaining the natural and authentic charac- ter of recycled brown paperboard. It therefore meets the needs of businesses in the food processing, beverage, produce, and consumer goods mar- kets who want to align their positioning and commitment to sustainable development. This solution is particularly suited to brands that promote their products’ eco-respon- sible, organic, artisanal, or ethical attributes. Packaging
manufactured with Cascades lithoURB can be certified FSC® Mix or 100 percent recycled, are pre-qualified as re- cyclable by How2Recycle®, and meet BRCGS food safety requirements. “Cascades lithoURB provides our customers with eco-friendly packaging—a key factor when choosing prod- ucts in stores. By meeting market demand for sustainable products, Cascades strives to maintain its position as a leader in sustainability,” said Hugues Simon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cascades. Accurate Box Company Adds C Flute To Packaging Capabilities Paterson, New Jersey based Accurate Box Company has expanded its corrugated packaging capabilities with the
addition of C flute. The company now offers F, E, D, B and C flute profiles, expanding the range of projects and packaging specifica- tions it can support. C flute is a widely used corrugated profile known for its product protection and com- pression strength. Its thicker construction makes it well suited for club store trays and heavier boxes that must hold up through stacking, storage and transportation.
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Each flute profile offers a different bal- ance of thickness, strength, and product protection while supporting high-quality graphics. The appropriate profile depends on the product, package design and distri- bution requirements. “C flute comes up regularly in conversa- tions with customers and prospects. Add- ing it means we can now say yes to more projects that specify C flute,” said Samara Ronkowitz, Executive Vice President at Ac- curate Box Company. Flute selection plays an important role in how packaging performs throughout the supply chain. With C flute now available,
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Accurate Box (CONT’D FROM PAGE 12)
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Fosber Wins Big In Texas With Annual Monday Night
Green Bay, Wisconsin based Fosber America once again exceeded expectations with its annual tradition of host- ing its Monday Night Customer Appreciation Event during AICC/TAPPI Corrugated Week in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nothing’s more rewarding than a couple made for each other.
More than 150 customers, friends, invited guests and employees enjoyed the private event at the Lot 12 Rooftop Bar in Fort Worth at guests clustered from cozy corners of the restaurant to the open-air roof-top setting to enjoy the view of scenic Southwest sunset and the company of friends, colleagues and customers. Jeff Pallini, President of Fosber America, used the op- portunity to thank guests with an abundance of food, bev- erages and gifts from the raffles, including signed football helmets, jerseys, ipads and a Playstation gaming system. Adding to the magic of the evening was a Monday Night football game—the rival Chicago Bears beat the Phil- adelphia Eagle 27-7—that was shown on approximately 20 televisions throughout the rooftop.
That’s why the engineers at ARC International have focused their skills and talents on crafting perfect matches between the components that must work in tandem on your flexo folder gluers and die-cutters: • Anilox Rollers and Ink Chambers • Anilox and Wiper Rollers • Feed and Pull Rollers • Glue and Meter Rollers You can achieve the press speeds and print quality you need to fill your most demanding orders by pairing your team with The ARChitects of Flexo . Contact ARC today to learn how these engineered matches of flexo folder gluer and die-cutter components (new or reconditioned) can help you achieve a more perfect union of production and profits.
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And of course, the annual photo of the Fosber team, above, displaying their professional and colorful person- alities, which explains why the company has perhaps the highest morale in the corrugated industry.
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UFP Packaging Opens New Automated Facility In Las Vegas ‘All Boxed Up’ in Las Vegas, NV, is the newest corrugated operation within UFP Packaging‘s expanding corrugated network. The company are committed to expanding cor- rugated capabilities in high-growth markets following a high-performance template that has been developed in- house, with emphasis on automation, efficient layouts, safety, and scalable customer service. The new Las Vegas operation will serve corrugated packaging customers in the western U.S., with early mo- mentum from customer visits and plant tours. “Many of our customers are household names in food and beverage, consumer products, logistics and e-commerce. We also serve industrial packaging customers that need reliable sheet capability, throughput, specification control, and scalable service,” explains Nick Hoffman, VP of Protective Packaging. The Las Vegas operation is a modern corrugated plant, built around efficient layouts, automation, and material flow. “We began with two flexo folder gluers and one ro- tary die-cutter. We have recently added three more ma- chines. This facility is designed to support sheet convert- ing, throughput, consistency, quality, safety, and scalable growth,” adds Hoffman. “The Las Vegas project supports UFP Packaging’s broader strategy to expand corrugated
capacity and capability in growth markets. This facility fol- lows a high-performance template we have developed in-house, with emphasis on automation, efficient layouts, safety, and scalable customer service.”
By February, two of the three corrugated machines were already placed and the third was on the way. “We have hosted multiple customer visits and plant tours as the plant was coming online. Many of those prospective cus- tomers have been converted into active working relation- ships in the Las Vegas area. The team at Las Vegas pro- duced its first box on May 25 this year,” confirms Hoffman. Phased Development Phase One included three high-speed converting lines with full automation from feeding, bundle handling, robotic stacking, and an ultra-advanced finished goods line con-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Serving the North American Corrugated and Folding Carton Industries Since 1985
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UFP Packaging (CONT’D FROM PAGE 12)
state of our industry. Having worked with corrugated box plants across the globe for the past 38 years, this is the one WSA USA is the most proud of,” says Jim McLaughlin,
trolled by the new WSA USA SmartShipping PC Automa- tion System which is fully integrated with Amtech’s latest factory ERP system. Each converting line include WSA Prefeeders, WSA Bundle Lines, WSA Robotic Palletizers and on the rotary die-cutter line, WSA’s Bundle Breaker solution. The WSA SmartShipping system tracks each unit from the converting machines down the finished goods line applying top dunnage, load tags, strapping, pallet inser- tion, load doubling and unit staging all in a fully automated “hands free” manner. There are no load tags or bar code scanners required in this solution and the plant has full vis- ibility of each unit in the system. No hand ever touches the corrugated product from infeed, to palletizing to stacking and to shipping. Finished units are automatically prepared in the manner of which they can be automatically loaded into a trailer or into the warehouse by AGV fork lifts as required. Two units on one pallet, two units on two pallets, two units on no pallets, etc is all automatically processed by the WSA SmartShipping PC Automation system which is fully integrated with the Amtech ERP system. Full auto- mation and hands free. “WSA USA is proud of our new partnership with UFP Packaging and in their shared vision and appreciation of full plant automation. They have allowed us the creativity to help shape the possibilities which represent the future
President, WSA USA. Great Collaboration
“The startup process has involved close collaboration between our equipment suppliers, our operations teams, and experienced personnel from other UFP Packaging corrugated facilities,” says Hoffman. “Installation and training were approached as more than machine setup. They were part of a broader effort to build the processes, safety expectations, and operating discipline needed for long-term success. That collaborative approach helped accelerate the learning curve and supported the plant’s successful startup.” Hoffman adds, “We view our equipment suppliers as long-term partners in the success of the Las Vegas opera- tion. Their support during installation, startup, and training helped the team bring equipment online and begin build- ing operating consistency. As production volumes ramp, we expect to continue working collaboratively to optimize performance, safety, and reliability.” He concludes, “The immediate focus is ramping the Las Vegas operation, onboarding the right customers, pro- tecting service as volumes increase, and maximizing the capabilities of the new facility. This plant is a meaningful investment in high-tech manufacturing careers in the Las Vegas region.”
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Harris American Company Opens New Training Center In Georgia Harris American Company has opened its new Harris American University technology and training center in Cordele, Georgia – the location of Harris American Com- pany headquarters. “As we’ve combined the business operations of Har- ris Equipment, American Baler and International Baler, we
says Eric Farmer, Vice President, Harris American techni- cal training. The facility will be used for customer training as well as training of Harris American’s dealer technicians, technical field staff and teams from across the companies four manufacturing plants.
have been able to retain the very best of the three previous companies in the new com- bined business. The introduc- tion of Harris American Univer- sity represents the continuation of previous training programs, now integrated into one curricu- lum with a fantastic new home,”
Companies who own Harris American equipment have full access to the curriculum which currently includes in- clude two-ram fundamentals; advanced two-ram; triple compression balers; and shears with additional topics in development. The benefits of the courses include hands on experience, and the ability to interact with Harris Amer- ican engineering, production, and field service leadership. VanDeusen adds, “Harris American University marks the next step in the commitment we have to our custom- ers, dealers, and employees beyond the equipment that we build.”
says DJ VanDeusen, President, Harris American. The announcement of Harris American University co- incides with the opening of a dedicated training and tech- nology center in Cordele just down the street from the company’s manufacturing operations there. “The facility has a state-of-the-art classroom as well as a hands on, practical learning center where attendees can work on various critical elements of our equipment includ- ing electrical panels, hydraulic manifolds and much more,”
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Selling Your Business (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
business or a management buyout, really wasn’t on the table because we couldn’t afford to pay off the primary owner at the same time that we would continue to invest in and operate the business going forward. Luckily my part- ner knew that. We started to talk about it seriously around the time he turned 70. I think the difference between thinking about
ing at the end of an old Bobst flatbed die cutter, and I’ve done a little bit of everything since then. My father started the business in 1966. He grew a com- pany called Box USA, which he sold to International Paper in 2004. We then grew a company called U.S. Corrugated. In 2011, we sold most of the business to Roger Stone and Matt Kaplan. Brown: I was president and co-owner of The Boxmaker until we sold it to SupplyOne in May of 2025. We’re primar- ily known in the industry for early adoption of digital print and corrugated and creation of an online business called Fantastapack.
selling and actually knowing that it’s time to sell was arriving between the two of us at some reasonable idea of an outcome that would work for the two of us. It took a little bit to get there. What did each one of us think the business was worth? Who did we want to sell to? Because, in this
Marino: The decision to sell in- cludes timing and readiness, peo- ple and identity, the transaction, and then post-close. There’s also a difference between deciding to sell and being ready to sell. How do you know when it’s time to sell?
Richard Brown
scenario, I am most likely I’m staying with the company. And what did we want for our coworkers? We had those discussions, and I think as soon as we arrived at that, we were ready to sell. Marino: Everyone says sell when the business is strong, not when you’re desperate. That’s great in practice, but how do you sell when everything’s going well and every instinct that you have says keep riding it out? Mehiel: You have to listen to the marketplace. You have to understand where you are in the cycle. You have to un- derstand clearly what it is about your business that might be of interest to a potential buyer or buyers. And you must
Gene Marino
Brown: My business partner Dave Taylor is about 15 years my senior. It started in figuring out an exit path for my partner. He was also the primary owner. Once you get on the treadmill of digital, you’re going to keep putting cap- ital in every year if you’re going to keep supporting that business. One of the potentials, myself buying the balance of the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
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18 October 5, 2026
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Selling Your Business (CONT’D FROM PAGE 18)
line for this? How do you communicate to your team what the intentions are? Mehiel: Maintaining as much control as you can over information flow in the process is important, but it’s also important to be realistic. All things being equal, if you’re running a box plant and you’re in the process of selling the plant, you’d prefer the least possible amount of people to know that for as long as possible so that the business is not destabilized. Medof: One approach is It’s to be very open. When folks are used to others being out on the plant floor and having guests and hosting people, and you have invest- ment bankers who might be dropping by to call on you and give you an update on the market, you just don’t have this moment of surprise. Also, it’s good have transparent discussions with employees to let them know you’re al- ways looking at options. This way, there are no shocks or surprises.
be clear-eyed about where you are in the life cycle and evolution of that business, and whether or not you can rea- sonably decide that you’re going to create more value if you stay. That’s an easy one to get wrong. And we’ve done that on more than one occasion where we thought, this is go- ing to get better and it’s going to be worth more later. And later it was worth a little bit less than that original moment. It’s really about understanding what’s happening external- ly and how that impacts you in a very clear-eyed analysis of where you are internally. Marino: From the buyer’s seat, what do you think a business looks like when it’s genuinely ready to sell versus one that’s dressed up for the sale? How do you navigate through those challenges? Medof: There’s a few things that we consider important to make a strong favorable impression when we’re looking of some of the things that someone would want to see as a buyer. Once you get over the initial shock of the amount of information, it’s good business practice to have readily available those sorts of things in your business. Richard, during your process of selling, were you in a scenario where valuations differed from some interested parties, but you guys were able to stay true to who you felt the best fit was? Brown: It took two rounds to sell. We started at the end of COVID and that process ended without a sale, simply because we didn’t find that it was an attractive time to sell. Valuations had changed a lot from the time we started the process to the time we ended it. We went to one of these speed dating private equity deals put on by Deloitte. Sixteen times a day for 10 min- utes at a time, we pitched our company and talked to pri- vate equity people. And after two days of that, Dave and I thought we had a pretty good idea of who might be a good fit and would understand our business. at partnering with an independent. The main thing is a clean set of fi- nancials, and it’s pretty clear when financials have been dressed up at the last minute. Marino: You can go into Claude or ChatGPT and ask for a due dili- gence list, and it’ll give you a taste I didn’t want to work for somebody that didn’t under- stand the box business. Ideally, we were looking for some- body who didn’t have the primary assets that we were looking to sell, which was digital packaging. SupplyOne was a very fair arrangement for us, consis- tent with what we thought we would be a fair value. Its important to point out that it was not the highest offer that we received during the process. But is was the best fit for what we were looking for overall. Marino: There’s a transition that naturally needs to take place when the sale is made. Is there a roadmap or time- Billy Medof
Marino: Can each of you elaborate on the intrusive- ness of the diligence process? Brown: Your experience with diligence very much de- pends on who you sell to. We were buyers of several busi- nesses, and most of our deals started on a single page of yellow-lined notepad paper with very simple points. Of course, by the time the lawyers got involved, it would be much more detailed. But diligence was pretty simple with us as a buyer. Diligence selling to private equity is totally different. I spent the better part of five months actively engaged in answering questions all the time. The questioning can feel invasive, as they ask the reason for every decision that you’ve ever made. Whether we ended up selling or not, the diligence pro- cess was going to teach us things about the business that we either hadn’t identified ourselves, or hadn’t wanted to look into. Either way, the result of the diligence was pos- itive. Mehiel: Diligence by nature is an intrusive process. The more buttoned up you are in terms of your financials, the better off you will be when a diligence process begins. If you’re not sure your records and administrative func- tions are where they need to be, they’re probably not. Any
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Selling Your Business (CONT’D FROM PAGE 20)
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sophisticated buyer, and generally speaking they’re all so- phisticated, is going to come in and want to understand everything you ever did and why you did it. And the more ready you are for that process the day before it starts the better it’s going to go. Medof: For us, diligence is 90 percent growth-oriented and 10 percent confirmatory. What we’re aiming to do is take a really good business and help supercharge it. We’re trying to take a bogey golfer and help that bogey golfer become a scratch golfer. We want to do it fast, and we want to hit the ground running. So, the vast majority of our diligence is not really diligence, it’s business planning. Marino: As you get to the close to the sale, founders have so much of their identity wrapped up into these busi- nesses. What sort of emotions come with that? Brown: A little bit of everything. Is the buyer going to live up to all the things they’ve said they would live up to? Am I going to enjoy being an employee in a company again as opposed to a principal? Personally, my overwhelming feeling the day that the deal was done was relief. Relief that the process was over and relief from the burdens of ownership. And frankly, re- lief from being the senior executive running the business every day. Then, I had excitement for what was coming. A day af- ter we sold, I basically handed off manufacturing respon- sibility to somebody else. The majority of the coworkers and sites that I managed were no longer my responsibility, I got to lead a commercial team just selling digital across the country. I had 350 new salespeople, and I was excited to take on that role. Mehiel: Most recently when we sold Dover, I was in the plant on day zero introducing the IP team to everybody. That day in a meeting, someone said to me, ‘Dennis, you look like you just lost your puppy.’ I was feeling the emotion of this change in the busi- ness. And these were not people that I had worked with for 20 years; the plant was only about five years old. But at some point, the only thing that really matters is the people. So, of course there’s emotion associated with that situa- tion changing. It should be an emotional process. It should matter to you, something beyond just the dollars. Marino: Billy, I know your partners, the owners, are still involved in the business actively. Have you sensed any shift at all on the emotional side for those folks? Medof: We work hard to preserve the family legacy and brand. David Strauss runs the business. He’s president of Key Container, and he sits in the same office he sat in six months ago. His team is all there, sitting in their same offic- es, doing the same thing. His son runs sales, fourth generation in the business. It is still very much their family business, and that’s really im- portant to us. Part of what we resolved when we set out on this journey was to do things differently, and for us it’s re-
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Selling Your Business (CONT’D FROM PAGE 22)
Board Converting NEWS INTERNET DIRECTORY
ally important to preserve family legacies and founder leg- acies. That’s what made and makes independents great. It’s what enables independents to outperform integrateds. I spent 12 years at an integrated, never want to go back. I really believe in the spirit and competitive advantage of independence. The one point of stress is as an indepen- dent, as an owner, is being accountable to only yourself. It’s stressful when you now have upside pressure, even when it’s good pressure. I won’t diminish and undersell the fact that that is stressful. Marino: Dennis and Richard, was there anything that you wish you would have paid attention to or addressed a couple years prior to exit? Mehiel: There’s always something, at least in our expe- rience, that can become an irritant to a process. A trans- action is a fragile thing, and they can go sideways. When they start to not feel good, that can be the end of a deal. Also, keep in mind you don’t necessarily want to make big capital investments if you think you’re getting ready to sell, but if you are not doing preventive maintenance on machines, the buyer will identify that and they will wonder what else it is that they have to be concerned about. Brown: One thing to consider is real estate. We had seven locations, five of which had some common owner- ship with the business. And the business was involved in the ownership of two of the buildings. I would have sepa- rated that out earlier. That’s a discussion point with a lot of other owners is the relationship between the real estate and the business. Marino: Richard, once you get through the transition, how hard or easy is it to genuinely let go and let someone else run the thing that you had a hand in building? Brown: We were in a conference room at one point with the buyers, and to that point I’d been told that I was going to run a business unit with a P&L and would report to the CEO. I was basically going to run the same thing that I was already running. That is what I’d been told for months of this process. We end up in a conference room and at one point they put some slides up and now I’m running a commercial team. I have 20 people instead of 250 people. I don’t run the plants. It’s a big change from what we’ve talked about. I didn’t handle it very well in that moment. That experience made it a lot easier to be ready when the time came. I was leaving things to somebody that I trusted. It’s been generally easy to let go and leave it with somebody else and be happy moving forward. Marino: If you could sum up in a single sentence about the decision to sell, what would you say? Brown: If not now, when? Mehiel: If this is a company you founded and you’re going to do this one time, don’t do it alone. Medof: What helped and enabled you as a founder and an owner to build the great business that you have is prior- itizing customers, your team, and your family.
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