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Greg Kenny
President
General Cable Corp. |
April can be a precocious month. Mother Nature can’t quite make up her mind whether to shower those tender little seedlings with torrential downpours as they start to uncurl their tiny leaves and buds, straining their stems to catch that one ray of light to begin their new life above ground. Or, being the April fool jokester she is, just might send a shocker of a snow storm our way.
Fortunately, for our ACG Cincinnati members and guests contending with unpredictable weather was not a problem. All was light and bright inside the Queen City Club in downtown Cincinnati as Crystal Faulkner, president of ACG Cincinnati kicked off the morning with a warm welcome to all that had gathered for the April 9, 2008 luncheon meeting.
Our featured speaker, Greg Kenny, president of General Cable Corporation, was about to share how this wire and cable giant witnessed an incredible growth in revenue ($700 million) in just four short years.
All was not always sunshine and roses, however, when Kenny took the helm in 2001. It was then he became CEO of General Cable in a time when the country was dealing with the effects of Y2K and the tragedy of 9/11. For General Cable, it looked like things had gotten as bad as they could get. Little did he know what lay in store for the industry!
Competitors were being squeezed by lenders as margins shrank and all but disappeared as they grappled to retain market share. Value for the shareholder was being eroded and businesses were being sucked into an abyss without any hope of taking control of their destinies. Or was there hope? Kenny knew so.
Working to avoid a disastrous future and potential meltdown, Kenny and General Cable began a bilateral approach to staging a healthy comeback for the company. Improving its processes across the enterprise and lowering production costs along with establishing the company as a global business with more diverse offerings and capabilities, General Cable began it phoenix-like rise out of the ashes. His commitment to implementing continuous improvement processes and procedures in all facets of the business, involving not only office and shop floor personnel convinced Kenny he was definitely on to something. Adopting best practices and applying the Lean approach to manufacturing began to prove very lucrative in running the day to day operations. It quickly became a way of life for General Cable Corporation here in the U.S., as well as globally.
The presentation was an intriguing one as Kenny led the discussion from the seemingly endless spiral downward for the industry to how he fulfilled his vision to protect shareholder value in just four short years. He has described his leadership style as that of a “hands-on” leader, quick to give feedback, positive or not so positive in the spirit of helping his team improve. He wants to see people succeed and aims to provide an atmosphere where visionary ideas can grow and be shared for the benefit of the entire enterprise.
As April showers come and go, General Cable will continue to be the bright light at the end of the proverbial cable. Oh, I mean tunnel.
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Jack Kraeutler
Chief Executive Officer
Meridian Bioscience |
The ACG Cincinnati membership held its March 2008 luncheon meeting at the Queen City Club in downtown Cincinnati. Crystal Faulkner, ACG Cincinnati’s president welcomed a full house as she introduced the day’s speaker, Jack Kraeutler, Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
He commented that the global market for infection disease tests continue to grow as new disease states are identified, as new therapies become available and as worldwide standards of living and access to health care coverage greatly improve.
In strategic product development, there are three core concepts that drive the need to contribute to patient well-being and the paring down of health care costs. Those concepts are - speed, simplicity and accuracy. Meridian accomplishes these by monitoring existing markets, interacting closely with its customers and recognizing emerging diseases and therapies.
Conventional testing as we know it often requires highly trained personnel to perform tedious procedures which in turn create a lengthy turnaround time for test results. Meridian’s shift from this method to a more technologically advanced testing that can be performed by less highly trained personnel that can conceivably be completed in minutes or hours, as opposed to days or even weeks.
Kraeutler goes on to explain that Meridian Bioscience is a fully integrated life science company that offers biopharmaceutical enabling technologies and manufactures, distributes and markets a broad scope of innovative diagnostic test kits, purified reagents and related products. These products provide true and accurate results along with providing speed and simplicity in early diagnosis of certain common medical conditions. Many of the diagnostic products are used outside the human body and require little, if any special equipment.
Its products are marketed mainly to hospitals, reference labs, research centers, veterinary testing centers, diagnostics manufacturers and physician offices in more than 60 countries around the world.
As the presentation drew to a close, he touched briefly on several of Meridian Bioscience’s accomplishments over the years. The latest of those accolades were in 2007 when Meridian was included in Business Week’s 100 Hot Growth Companies and was also listed in Business 2.0’s 100 Fastest Growing Tech Companies.
Meridian has also enjoyed a record second quarter and six months net sales of $36.2 million and $70.1 million, respectively, increases of 13% and 15% over the same periods of the prior fiscal year.
With all the scientific data and testing out there and in an attempt to keep America safe from the dreaded flu bug, he left us with a pearl of wisdom…and it is free…wash your hands thoroughly and often!
ACG Cincinnati - Wine Tasting October 24, 2007
 Ever wanted to travel to some far away place, one with an exotic or mysterious sounding name, to explore the fascinating flavors of Old World wines? On October 24th, a great turnout for ACG Cincinnati’s second annual wine tasting event gave members and friends the opportunity to do just that.
This time, there was no need to pack their bags or dust off the old passport. Those international samplings and delicious hors d’oeuvres were never any further away than a quick highway exit to the bustling community of Kenwood. David Anthony, General
Manager of microWINES Wine Shop greeted the guests as they entered the building. Although the facilities appeared small from the outside, once inside guests were amazed at the vast display of wines in the racks and in the cases.
After some mixing and mingling, Crystal Faulkner, ACG Cincinnati’s President welcomed guests and acknowledged the evening’s sponsors; Commerce Bank, LudlowWard Capital Advisors and The Payne Firm. She also recognized and thanked
Cindy Mustard, Vice President of Business Development with Summit Financial Resources (and Special Events Chair) for all the hard work and energy that was put into the event.
The program was then turned over to David Anthony and the microWINES staff. As each station host poured the wine, guests were treated to a brief and interesting history behind each selection. While moving the presentation forward, everyone still had ample time to savor the tasty appetizers and cheeses that were paired with that particular wine offering.
As the evening drew to a close, David Anthony invited everyone to browse around the shop. He answered questions regarding the evening’s wines and also offered ideas and gift selections regarding wine tasting for private parties and get-togethers. Bringing together a group of fellow wine enthusiasts is a fantastic way to encourage shared opinions (differing or otherwise) and conclusions (“that wine had a nice, pleasant note!”), enhancing the personal understanding and appreciation of a good wine. And the nice thing about this “mini-trip?” They didn’t even have to check their luggage!2007 CHARITY GOLF OUTING
 The ACG Cincinnati 2007 Charity Golf Outing was held Monday, July 23, at the Triple Crown Country Club in Boone County, Kentucky. Over 100 golfers took to the course for a high noon shotgun start and a friendly little scramble competition—friendly being a relative term. The foursome of Kroeger, Hemmer, Hodgkins and Shank hammered out a 15 under, 57 to take a first place trophy and a $125 Triple Crown Proshop gift certificate each. Two teams tied for second at -14, with the Reinhold, Wendell, Fox and Kurtz team edging the McEachern, Schimpf, Brey and Mustard on the first play-off hole. Proceeds from the outing went to three wonderful organizations. Accounting for Kids helps underprivileged school children learn about the FUNdamentals of sound financial literacy, Dress for Success provide services and opportunities for less fortunate women returning to the job market. SmartMoney Community Services offers affordable financial services, economic education, and workshops to the underserved in our community. Through the generosity of sponsors and golfers, ACG Cincinnati was able to write a check for $5,000 to each of the three non-profit organizations.ACG Cincinnati extends special thanks to presenting sponsor Baker & Hostetler and major sponsors KeyBank, Prudential Capital, and ProFill Holdings. The event features other contests held throughout the day. Rick Daeschner won a weekend use of a Mercedes Benz car in “Closest to the Pin” on hole # 6. “Closest to” on hole #16 awarded Rick Kurtz the use of a BWM sports car for a weekend. Tom Reinhold and Laura Hemmer won the “Long Drive” contests. J.R. Shank holed it for the victory in the “Huntington Putting Green” contest. Each of these winners received a $100 gift certificate to the Triple Crown Proshop.
The day turned out to be nearly perfect with the weather cooperating nicely, the facilities terrific as usual, the food and beverages exceptional, and the golf pretty doggone good. Thanks to the ACG Cincinnati Golf Committee, chaired by Ron Moss, for their efforts as plans are already under way for next years event.
The Best-at-Breakfast series features an in-depth assessment of a specific topic related to corporate growth. These members-only sessions are designed to give an intimate group of corporate executives the chance to hear from a speaker with first-hand experience and powerful lessons learned.
- As Best-at-Breakfast sessions are finalized, information will be posted. Seats are limited and registrations filled on a first come, first serve basis.
- Reservations after capacity is met will be placed on a wait list.
- These sessions are free to members of ACG Cincinnati.
- Reservations can be made by email, mail or telephone at (866) 500-ACGC (2242)
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ACG Cincinnati’s C-Level Events are invitation-only events designed to give C-Level executives the opportunity to network and participate in a lively discussion and/or tour with some of the region’s most highly respected professionals and companies. All participants are encouraged to engage in these informal, peer level conversations involving timely and interesting industry topics.
The C-Level Events are limited to 20 participants. These events typically are held in the morning from 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. and include either a continental or buffet breakfast. See the event’s promotional flyer for details.
- As the C-Level events are finalized, information will be distributed to ACG Cincinnati Corporate Members.
Space is limited and registrations are filled on a first come, first served basis.
- Reservations after capacity is met will be placed on a wait list.
- These sessions are free to Corporate Members of ACG Cincinnati and their invitees.
- Reservations must be made by email (info@acgcincinnati.org), U.S. mail or telephone at (866) 500 ACGC (2242).
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