When Donald Vanke formed Arion Inc. two years ago as a sister company to LISN, he wanted to reduce costs by bringing LISN’s material needs in-house. Vanke, LISN vice president, figured there could be immediate savings.
But what he didn’t expect was for the returns to be so great. Arion, which provides installation equipment such as wire, nuts, bolts and racking to LISN, was profitable within five months.
That type of result isn’t new for Vanke. Since he joined LISN in 1984, he helped take the Amherst-based telecommunications company from a regional presence to a national player. Its clients include telecom giants GTE, Ameritech, U.S. West, MCIWorldCom, Sprint and AT&T.
Under Vanke’s leadership, revenues have grown consistently, with 1998 sales up 436 percent from 1995. So has the work force. In 1996, LISN had 250 employees; today, it has close to 1,000.
Vanke attributes LISN’s success to the market. “The marketplace is pushing us,” he says. “There’s more demand for telecommunications today than ever before — with the Internet, more cell phones and the increase in data transmission. And with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the marketplace has really opened up.”
Ironically, while most companies strive to have their name associated publicly with the products and services they provide, LISN takes a different route.
“Name recognition is not important for us,” Vanke says. “Our business is about contacts, making sure you can convince people that you can do the job, then going out there and showing them you can do the job. You do that not through name recognition, but through personal contact and results.”
Vanke’s next goal is to expand LISN’s presence west of the Mississippi. The company opened a regional office and distribution center in Denver recently, and Vanke says he’s exploring similar possibilities in Los Angeles and Dallas.
“The 1996 Telecommunications Act opened up competition nationwide,” explains Vanke. “We’re well-positioned to thrive in the expanded marketplace.”
