Tom Hanchin ’85 An entrepreneur at heart
Tom Hanchin runs a $25 million technology business, and he says it was his Mercyhurst hospitality degree that jump-started his career. “The program prepares you to run a business of your own before you’re 25,” he says – which he did after graduating in 1985. Within a year of joining Erie’s Elephant Bar restaurant, he became its general manager at just 24, running a $3 million business with more than 100 employees. His work today is far removed from the hospitality industry, but he believes his Mercyhurst education prepared him well to grow his own company. “If you’re an entrepreneur at heart, hospitality is a great degree to begin with,” he explains. After several jobs in the hotel-restaurant world, Tom moved to Colorado and decided to explore the growing technology feld. Though he was brand-new to the feld, he convinced a major company to give him a chance. Fourteen months later he was the frm’s
number-one salesman. Just eight months after that, in 1995, Tom and co-worker David Videon ventured out on their own. They didn’t want to compete against their former employer, so they carved out a diferent niche and began providing cables and other connection equipment to that employer and its customer base. Profts – and salaries – were small at frst, but Cable and Connection Experts (CCX) grew steadily. The company soon began manufacturing its own cables and now has facilities in Boulder, Colorado, and Nogales, Mexico. It boasts $25 million in annual sales, more than 200 employees, and a solid reputation for honesty, integrity and service. Tom is the frm’s CEO and chairman of the board, while David handles day-to-day operations as its president. Visit Cleveland’s First Energy Stadium or Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and you’ll see CCX products at work. CCX supplies cables to Daktronics, the scoreboard company that lights up a majority of NFL, NHL and NBA stadiums nationwide.
Big names in the data storage and computing world, including HP and Dell, are clients. Among CCX partners are Uber, Facebook, eBay, PayPal, Pandora, Apple and Netfix. CCX cables are incorporated in everything from CAT scanners and blood monitoring systems to recreational vehicles and solar panels. Tom proudly notes that many of his earliest hires are still with him today, and that he’s never had a lawsuit or a bad debt. He notes, “You don’t have to be a bad guy to succeed in business. You’ll do better if you have empathy, compassion and integrity.” Tom and CCX are active sponsors of Boulder’s “I Have a Dream” program, which helps underprivileged children fnish high school and attend college. He especially likes the opportunity to personally meet the kids he helps and follow them for as long as 10 years. Tom’s now expanding that focus on education for disadvantaged kids, developing a scholarship that will help Erie students attend
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