Brief Profiles of Inc. 500 Companies

A collection of 24 short articles about companies from the 1997 Inc. 500.

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8
Eyes on the Prize
You May Already Be a Winner!
Bill Bartmann, founder of Commercial Financial Services, subscribes to the Publishers Clearing House school of management: he systematically commits random acts of generosity. After one new hire sang a show-stopping rendition of Kenny Rogers's "Lady" at a talent contest, Bartmann ponied up $35,000 for him to record an album. When another employee said she'd always dreamed of working with Mother Teresa, off she went to Calcutta for two weeks. He's also funded honeymoons and sponsored an employee who aspires to be an Olympic athlete. Indulgent? "I get my money back," Bartmann says. "We take care of them, they take of us."

10
The Next Management Fad?
Dernab Has Left the Building
Old Style: Hire for attitude, train for skill
Bold Style: Train skillfully, with attitude
PhotoDisc boasts its own "university" presided over by a fictitious "dean," Dernab Schwarneb (an actor), who has become a company Elvis of sorts, complete with rumored sightings. "Creativity comes from humor," explains president Mark Torrance.

46
Name-Dropping
I Believe That Brothers Are Our Future
Among the 16% of company founders who received help from their families is John Houston. Houston turned to his sister when he was struggling to make ends meet. "My sister helped me out a little bit, and I worked with her for a while," says the founder of Houston Associates. Houston's sister, Whitney, just happens to be the world's reigning pop diva, having sold more than 100 million records.

54
Personal File
Roads Scholar
As a professional race-car driver, CEO Henry Camferdam Jr. claims that Support Net's accelerated growth is directly tied to his hobby: the resellers who buy from him have no problem distinguishing Support Net from the 15 other IBM distributors. As part of an annual incentive program, about 20 clients and eight employees attend driver-training school. Camferdam took up racing a decade ago.

79
Roots
To Russia, with Luck
Starting out, Charles Ballantyne thought he knew the potential customers for the tentlike enclosures made by Universal Fabric Structures: large trade shows. But most of his business ended up coming from a wholly different quarter: the U.S. Air Force, which needed portable hangars for its F16s. (When left naked in the desert during the Gulf War, planes tended to get mucked up in all that sand.) Then, just when Ballantyne thought he had finally nailed his customer base, his buildings became fashionable as indoor tennis courts among high-ranking Russian officials. Even President Boris Yeltsin had one erected at his Black Sea dacha.

83
Personal File
This New House
No, George Jetson isn't running Global Management Systems. But he'd certainly feel comfortable as the CEO's houseguest. Meet Hilton H. Augustine Jr., an electrical engineer by trade who has transformed his home into an Epcot-like network of timed, infrared, and sound-activated systems. Everything is wired: the lights, the TV, the dishwasher--the entire house even shuts itself off at 11 p.m. Why go to such extremes? "Laziness," Augustine offers. "It--and not necessity--is the mother of invention."

98
Family Matters
Strife with Father
CEO Ben Chase is a confident salesman and former college decathlete now running a fast-track company. His vice-president, Mike Chase, has similar qualities, probably because he's Ben's father. With the two of them around, CableLink has been the scene of some heated--make that scorching--disputes: "shut-the-door, pictures-falling-off-the-walls shouting matches," says Ben. "A couple of times he'd grab his keys and say, 'I'm leaving.' And I'd grab my keys and say, 'You can have this damn company." Ethel Chase, Ben's mom, is the official peacemaker.

109
The Next Management Fad?
A Fair Hearing
Old Style: In-house newsletter
Bold Style: In-transit radio show
Eager to "touch our employees in a reasonably personal way," Paranet president Michael Holthouse provides them with Radio Paranet, a professionally produced audiocassette that sounds like an FM morning drive-time show. Hosted by two employees and produced every six weeks, the show includes segments such as "recruiter world," which is kicked off by a Wayne's World­style chant. A recent episode included a profile of Paranet's Chicago branch--whose members explained why they call themselves the Flying Musk Oxen--and an interview with two employees who couldn't fly home because a catering truck had impaled itself on their plane's wing at takeoff.

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