Entrepreneur Of The Year
Exemplary growth
How Chris Cole and Jim McCarthy beat the biggest bump in the road and kept growing
Smart Business Cincinnati | July 2008
Every business leader knows that
they’re going to face some bumps in the
road. But even with the experience that
Chris Cole and Jim McCarthy had, no one
could have told them what would happen
exactly one week after they went into
business as a full-service model for providing material-handling technology and
products and services to the retail distribution industry on Sept. 4, 2001.
Many companies lost a lot of ground
after the attacks of Sept. 11, but Cole,
Intelligrated’s CEO, and McCarthy, the
company’s president and chief operating
officer, fought through that initial brick wall
and have seen nothing but growth. Instead
of worrying about what would happen to
their industry after the attacks, Cole and
McCarthy trusted their employees, their
business plan and their focus on high-quality
customer service. Those principles have
proven critical to Intelligrated.
Today, the company has grown from 17 employees to more than 560 employees. But
Cole and McCarthy work hard to keep the
entrepreneurial spirit that brought them
together at the heart of the business. Passing
on the Golden Rule of treating customers the
way you want to be treated to truly value each
new customer, Cole and McCarthy lead the
example on customer service. They also continuously communicate to employees about
growthgoalsandbusinessplanstocreateaculture that can handle any adaptation in the business. And if they need any help with adjusting
on the fly, Cole and McCarthy can tell them a
prettysolidstoryaboutsurvivingadversity.
HOW TO REACH: Intelligrated Inc., (513) 701-7300 or
www.intelligrated.com
