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Posted 6-22-01
CLEVELAND -- Two northeast Ohio companies -- Professional Electronic Products Company (PEPCO) of Eastlake, and Warwick Communications Company of Cleveland -- were among the companies inducted June 12 into the Family Business Hall of Fame, a program of CWRU's Weatherhead School of Management.
PEPCO is a full-service, independent distributor of electronic products to the electrical, industrial control, automation, utility/high voltage, and data/telecommunications industries. In 1968, the year of its founding, the company had sales of $2 million. Sales this year are expected to exceed $100 million. It was founded by and remains in the control of the Borkey family.
Warwick Communications designs and implements complete voice/data communications systems, including telephone and call processing equipment; audio, visual, and signal systems; and local and long-distance voice and data services. Founded in 1946 by Arthur Kuehn, the company today is under the direction of Don Kuehn, president, and a third generation is being groomed to manage Warwick.
Inductees must have demonstrated a lifetime of achievement, with at least one succession of generational control, and have headquarters in Ohio. Companies may nominate themselves or be nominated by others. Selections are made by a committee comprised of Weatherhead faculty.
Other inductees this year are the HoneyBaked Ham Company of Cincinnati; Al Neyer Inc. of Cincinnati, a commercial design and construction and real estate development company; Ohio Willow Wood of Mt. Sterling, a manufacturer of prosthetic devices; and the Spangler Candy Company of Bryan.
The Hall of Fame also inducts one national company each year. The national inductee for 2001 is the E.W. Scripps Co. of Cincinnati, a $1.7 billion diversified media company which owns daily and weekly newspapers, broadcast television stations, and the cable television stations HGTV, Do It Yourself, and the Food Network.
In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the June 12 dinner and ceremony recognized 20 "Family Firms of Distinction." To be considered a Family Firm of Distinction, a family business must show evidence of improvement in sales and/or sales per employee growth over the tenure of the current generation of management running the firm. View a list of these firms.
Weatherhead founded the Family Business Hall of Fame in 1995 to recognize and encourage well-run family businesses. Sponsors of this year's induction dinner included KeyCorp, Ulmer & Berne LLP, American Express Tax & Business Services, and Hausser + Taylor LLP.