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Saturday, January 31, 2009
CEO changes with the times
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ben Treadway remembers when Doraville was considered the outskirts of Atlanta. This was before the silly discussions about whether to live Outside The Perimeter or Inside the Perimeter. When there was no Spaghetti Junction, no I-285.
“I-285 was being built,” said Treadway, a 1975 graduate of Sequoyah High who played football and ran track. “We used to hunt where Spaghetti Junction is.”
He attended Auburn University, where he majored in industrial management. He’d always wanted to go into business for himself, a nod in many respects, to his late father. He owned Glenco Jeep in Decatur for decades.
Treadway oversees Fulton Communications, a Norcross business on Reps Miller Road that specializes in integrated communications systems. The 32-person firm sells business phone systems, and everything such a network involves — “from data switches to security systems,” said Treadway, the company’s president and CEO. “And anything that has to do with low-voltage requirements.”
When we talked, I rattled off a few of the week’s most disturbing economic stories — Home Depot’s 7,000 job cuts, the 20,000 cuts at Caterpillar, and 8,000 jobs at Sprint Nextel.
Companies big and small are reaching for the saw, weighing drastic measures in a toxic economy. Yet Fulton Communications, acquired by Treadway in 2006, is expanding, growing jobs. Four weeks ago, the company opened an Orlando office. A Central Florida telecom company was downsizing.
“We had an opportunity to hire an office full of people,” he told me. “They’d all gotten laid off. Now we’re selling to the Florida market, the same thing we do here. All the markets are pretty similar these days. It’s tough going, but we are off to a good start.”
A company downsizes. In some cases, its owners want to sell or seek to bring in another partner. In steps Treadway. He may acquire the business entirely, or buy a stake, if an agreement can be inked out. It’s a scenario he expects to repeat itself in Phoenix and Los Angeles, two markets of interest. “This is exactly what I do,” the Marietta resident said. “The L.A. guy came in yesterday.”
Treadway admits it is harder these days to acquire new clients. The difficult part is getting in a company’s door, landing an appointment and, it is hoped, making the sell.
“You have to have the right people on your staff,” he said. “A lot of times companies have older technology, old-fashioned dial tones and phones. We are trying to get someone to change from a competitor’s system to our system. What we try to do is get in, take a look at the money that is already being spent on maintenance, and reallocate those funds. A lot of times, we can get companies better, more efficient technology for the same amount of money, and a lot of time put money into their pockets.”
And Fulton Communications’.
In 2006, when Treadway became president/CEO, Fulton Communications had an estimated $1.2 million in revenue. Last year, that figure surpassed $7 million, according to the company Web site. The company has installed and maintained communications systems for Atlanta anchors like the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park. “At this point, it’s all about working hard and doing the things we do best,” Treadway said. “As long as we do that, we will be fine.”
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