How Dilip Bhargava drives The SDB Group with his motivation and work ethic

Arriving in the United States from India in 1973 to pursue his master’s in engineering degree, Dilip Bhargava persevered through cultural adversity and quickly adjusted to his surroundings. His success to a large degree was due to his core values of a hard-work ethic, financial management skills, energetic leadership capabilities, respect for others, and the […]

How Randy Velarde makes outsource marketing effective at The Plaza Group

Randy Velarde spent 13 years in commercial management and market development at Shell Chemical and Texaco Chemical before transitioning from corporate manager to entrepreneur. When Texaco’s chemical assets were sold to Huntsman Corp. in 1994, that was the impetus for Velarde and his three partners to form The Plaza Group. He quickly learned to manage […]

How Steve Burke took risks to start and grow AIRman

Initially, Steve Burke simply had a hobby in his garage and basement but that interest evolved into AIRman Inc. in 1995. He saw opportunities and the need for pneumatic control systems and actuators, so he decided to take a big risk and start the company. Shortly after he began the business, he realized he would […]

How Nagesh Palakurthi grew Angstrom Holdings

With an engineering background at the Ford Motor Co., Nagesh Palakurthi’s first inspiration was an innovative concept to OEMs and Tier-1s called full vehicle balancing. While the concept attracted tremendous traction within the automotive community, the scope and logistics were too large for a start-up entrepreneur in 2000. So as an offshoot of the concept, […]

How Rich Stanbaugh identified new opportunities to grow ANX

Rich Stanbaugh joined ANXeBusiness Corp. in 2000 as vice president of strategic initiatives and began leading the creation of a new transaction services product. Today, that product represents about 15 percent of the company’s revenue at greater than 90 percent gross margin. But his accomplishments go much further than that single statistic as he’s been […]