CEO
STS Holdings Inc.
Services
AWARD RECIPIENT
Philip Anson Jr.
CEO
STS Holdings Inc.
When it comes time to honor employees who have been with 29-year-old STS Holdings Inc. for 10 years, CEO Philip Jay Anson Jr. gives the employee a Rolex watch as recognition. The Rolex watches are a small expense when thanking employees for their loyalty — the main reason why STS has been able to grow into the type of company it is today.
In fact, Anson says, STS does not have to work overtime to attract talent these days. Nearly every day someone knocks on the company’s door looking for an opportunity; some are willing to start at entry level as they just want to be part of STS.
When his father Philip Anson Sr. took over STS operations in 1997, everything was going well. The company had been experiencing growth and became the market leader in its niche industry of providing aircraft mechanics to large repair centers around the U.S. But like the bulk of the airline industry, things were not so rosy after 9/11. Overnight, STS lost more than half of its revenue.
Anson was asked to take over STS’s operations by the board of directors with the goal of diversifying the company and developing additional sources of revenue. Instead of cutting expenses and waiting for business to recover, Anson convinced the board of directors to invest as much as possible in talent and infrastructure. He then was able to design extremely scalable systems that could handle 10 times the amount of business.
Not only has STS since been growing its revenues and employee headcount, it has also assisted many of its customers to grow, for example JetBlue and Northwest. An example of their ability to innovate and revolutionize the market pertains to how STS was able to install the Wi-Fi systems in the Air Tran Airways fleet. To the surprise of Air Tran, STS installed the systems in one shift as opposed to the estimated three to four shifts.
How to reach: STS Holdings Inc., www.stsholdings.com
