Undeniable Industrialists

The Greater Fort Wayne community has been built by individuals who were willing to take risks. These individuals developed the area's resources and built the industries and businesses that have made this community great.

On Thursday evening, May 18 at the Grand Wayne Center Exhibition Hall, junior Achievement will host the annual BEL (Business and Education Leadership) Awards honoring the risk-takers and innovators from both education and business. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m., dinner is from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and the program is from 7:30-9 p.m.

An integral part of the evening is the induction of individuals into the Greater Fort Wayne Business Hall of Fame. The mission of the Hall of Fame is to recognize men and women of vision, foresight, courage, and outstanding character who are ideal role models for future business leaders.

The giants of business have made outstanding contributions to their industry and to the community. Their accomplishments have made a lasting impact on business and our society.

This year's inductees, Richard Bowlin and Jim Vann, exemplify everything for which the Greater Fort Wayne Business Hall of Fame stands.

Richard Bowlin - Allen County Motors

Richard Bowlin always wanted to work around automobiles. That love of cars, combined with strong mentors and supportive colleagues, resulted in a long and successful business career,

Bowlin's career began with the purchase of a Texaco service station in Missouri after his high school graduation in 1947. In those years after the war, Bowlin says it was exciting to be around cars, which previously hadn't been readily available to consumers. Three years later, to further his desire, he sold the service station and started cleaning up and selling cars as his first step toward a career as a car salesman. While many people tried to talk him out of the transition to car salesman, Bowlin was convinced it was the move he wanted to make.

"During this time, in the late '40s, there was a demand for automobiles, So, I would clean up a car and prepare it for sale, one car at a time. Then, I was hired at a Ford dealership as salesman. Within two years, I was promoted to used car manager, then to new car manager, and finally I became general sales manager," Bowlin says.

It was in 1950 that Rudy Fick, Bowlin's mentor and owner of the dealership where he was working at the time, called and told him to "pack my suitcase because I was moving to Fort Wayne to buy a dealership. While Rudy owned a number of dealerships, we had never talked about me owning one, but the dealership in Fort Wayne was suddenly available and an owner was needed."

Bowlin packed his suitcase and headed to Fort Wayne. He was offered the opportunity to purchase the former Graham Hatcher Ford and, with a name change, Bowlin's ownership of Allen County Motors began Dec. 4, 1950. The business grew steadily over the years, from 56 employees to 163 when Bowlin retired and sold Allen County Motors on Dec. 4,1997.

"During my years in business, a primary concern for me was the employees, and that was true from the first day," Bowlin

says. "I immediately established a group insurance plan, for example, because I knew that helping my employees would enable them to make more money and ultimately, would make my business the most successful one it could be."

Success is what followed. After fulfilling his buy-out option in just three years and eight months, Bowlin owned Allen County Motors and for the next 47 years, he would devote his life to the dealership and to the community Under Bowlin's leadership, Allen County Motors grew and the company and its employees prospered. In 1976, Allen County Motors moved to a new 14-acre location, and in 1987, a used car showroom was added to the expanding facility.

"My philosophy of customer satisfaction, combined with my belief in taking good care of my employees, enabled this successful growth," Bowlin says. "I wanted people to speak well of Allen County Motors. I believe that if a customer complains, their needs should be taken care of immediately."

Because of his commitment to customers, 70 percent of sales at Allen County Motors were repeat customers, many of whom were thirdgeneration buyers.

Bowlin's success was not only recognized by customers and employees. Ford Motor Company also recognized his success. For over 40 consecutive years, Bowlin was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award, the highest award given by Ford, in recognition of progressive management, sound merchandising practices and high quality service.

In addition to the awards and recognition, Bowlin was recognized with AAA Chicago Motor Club's Distinguished Public Service Award. In 1990, he was presented with the Dine magazine Quality Dealer Award for the state of Indiana.

Bowlin not only wanted to be personally successful, he wanted his employees to be successful, too. To Bowlin, employee success meant more than promoting them within Allen County Ford. It often meant helping set them up in their own dealerships around the region.

"For me, helping my employees succeed meant that others would see that Allen County Motors was a great place to work and that they, too, could one day own their own franchise," Bowlin says. "Because I was committed to giving these employees the sales and management experience they needed to later operate their own franchises, it became routine for Ford Motor Company to call me when they were looking for a good person to operate a dealership."

Richard Sefton was one employee Bowlin hired in the 1970s to sell cars, even though he had no previous experience. As a mentor, Bowlin guided Sefton in his career and eventually they became partners in Allen County Motors. When Bowlin retired from Allen County Motors in 1997, he continued his business partnership with Sefton. Today, they are coowners of Value Car Lot in Fort Wayne.

In addition to his philosophy of treating employees and customers honestly and fairly, Bowlin believes in community service. He has continued to devote his time and talents to local charities. For example, as a member of the Mizpah Shrine, for many years he donated vans for transportation of children to the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children. Vehicles were also donated to the American Cancer Society, the United States Marine Corps "Toys for Tots" program, the Police Athletic League, and junior Achievement of Northern Indiana. In addition, Allen County Motors provided the driver's education cars for Fort Wayne Community Schools from 1950-1999.

Bowlin also took a special interest in the

Community Harvest Food Bank. In addition to serving as a board member, he donated the land that today is the food bank's home. As a business leader in the community, Bowlin was also involved in a variety of fund-raising efforts to enable a variety of organizations, including Parkview Hospital and the United Way, to serve the community.

"I grew up learning to help others, and that remained important to me during my years in business," Bowlin says. "I believe one has to work hard to get ahead, treat employees and customers well, and serve the community."

James Vann - Rea Magnet Wire

Fort Wayne has been called the magnet wire capital of the world, with Rea Magnet Wire, Superior Essex, Phelps Dodge and General Electric all located in Fort Wayne. These companies produce 80 percent of all domestically-made magnet wire. Yet, only Rea Magnet Wire is owned and operated locally and is the largest privately-owned producer of magnet wire in the world.

Rea Magnet Wire was pushed to the forefront beginning in 1986, when James Vann and three other members of the Rea management risked a leveraged buy out of the company from Alcoa, resulting in local ownership.

Vann's work at Rea Magnet Wire began when Alcoa relocated him to Fort Wayne from Australia. Appointed president of Rea Magnet Wire Co. Inc., his "marching orders" were simple-make a strategic recommendation to Alcoa management for the future of Rea Magnet Wire Company, which was then a subsidiary of Alcoa.

By 1984, Rea Magnet Wire had experienced record profits of $100 million. Vann increased profitability by generating more volume, as well as by acquiring Algonquin Industries. Alcoa also transferred the responsibility for the management of Professional Electric Products Industries, a manufacturer of automobile wiring harnesses, to Vann in 1984.

To build on his profit-rich program of generating more volume, Vann presented Alcoa with a three-year plan, including a long-term goal of $500 million in sales. Vann believed this accomplishment would keep Rea Magnet Wire a "meaningful" diversification for Alcoa.

The plan, however, was not to be realized. Instead, in 1985, Vann received an unexpected phone call from Alcoa informing him that Alcoa intended to sell the company to Wesray Corp. of Morristown, N.J. Now, instead of focusing on the three-year strategic plan, Vann and the management team at Rea were suddenly providing data to Wesray and other buyers that had indicated an interest in purchasing the companies that reported to Vann.

However, the future of Rea was again altered when Wesray Corp. did not offer enough for Rea and the sale didn't occur.

"We had no earthly idea of what was going to happen to the company or happen to us," says Vann.

A savvy businessman, Vann had confidence in Rea and its employees. So, instead of seeing the situation in a negative light, Vann and team members Bill Gorman, president of Algonquin Industries, Rea's subsidiary in Guilford, Conn.; Ron Foster, then vice president of Rea; and Bill Wyatt, then vice president of finance, put together a leveraged buyout. Working together and with support from Alcoa, they were able to buy Rea and make it a viable part of the Fort Wayne community.

"Rather than have Alcoa sell the companies to someone we don't know, we thought that all of us would be better served if we did the deal ourselves," says Vann.

A casual conversation with then chairman of Summit Bank, Dick Doermer, led to financing which would help make the deal feasible. By March 1986, the leverage buyout by Vann, Gorman, Foster and Wyatt was complete. The company, whose destiny just a year earlier was very unsure, was now complete. Rea Magnet Wire was now headquartered in Fort Wayne, Ind., with plants located in Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Ind.; Laurinburg, N.C.; Buena Vista, Va.; and Guilford, Conn.

The $35 million leveraged buyout did not occur without challenges. Shortly after the team received financing approval from Summit Bank, the plant in Buena Vista flooded with more than $9 million in damages. The buyout continued, though, with Alcoa's insurance covering the clean-up costs of the Buena Vista plant. The plant would never see full operations again, because flood insurance was no longer affordable. The machinery was transferred to Rea's plant in Lafayette, creating nearly 100 new jobs for that community.

The first year of local ownership was a trying time for the company, too. With the economy and the magnet wire markets depressed in 1986 and the high interest cost associated with the leveraged buyout, it proved to be Rea's worst year. The small profit that was generated was credited to the commitment and extraordinary efforts of the entire employee team.

"Everyone did his or her share to pull Rea through these challenging times," Vann says. Vann and the management team felt strongly that they needed to support the employees who supported the company When the Alcoa pension plan was no longer available to Rea, the leadership instituted a 401(k) plan which employees owned from day one.

Offering guidance to employees, Rea promoted guaranteed insurance contracts as safe vehicles for employees who did not want to take risk in their 401(k) plan. When one of the guaranteed insurance contracts defaulted containing $1 million in employees funds, Vann, Gorman, Wyatt and Foster bought the defaulted contract and put the appreciated value into each employees' 401(k) pension plan. This eliminated potential loss to Rea people who were depending on their 401(k) plans for retirement.

The partnership between management and its employees has always been strong at Rea, Vann says. It is that partnership which he credits to Rea's success. All Rea personnel individually and collectively did what they could to make Rea a success. For example, employees took wage freezes to help hold down costs during the lean years. The company sold the corporate plane, reduced inventory and sold old equipment to reduce the debt which is essential to a successful leveraged buy out.

Today, the company is known as Rea Magnet Wire Company Inc. and it is one of the largest manufacturers of wire for electric motors and transformers in the United States. The company employs more than 700 people at four plants, the newest of which was recently built in 1998 at Las Cruces, N.M., producing a wide variety of insulated wire for the electrical industry.

Vann and the Rea Magnet Wire team have contributed widely to the Fort Wayne community During the years following the leveraged buyout, Rea Magnet Wire Company and its employees have generously donated their time and money, participating in United Way, junior Achievement, the American Cancer Society's "Jail n' Bail," contributing to the Fort Wayne Food Bank, and sponsoring several workshops titled "AIDS Education in the Workplace." In addition, Rea has supported the arts and the educational institutions in the Fort Wayne community.

Today, Rea Magnet Wire is headquartered in Fort Wayne thanks to the innovation, willingness to take risk, and persistence of Jim Vann and his team.