A year ago, I told you that our most recent economic downturn, one of the most devastating in decades, would swiftly and definitively separate the wheat from the chaff at all levels of industry, from global corporations to mom-and-pop shops to e-commerce ventures. I was right. I also predicted that in 2009, we would see our economy begin to recover, thanks in no small part to the leadership and policies of President Barack Obama. Though a lot more work needs to be done to achieve a compete recovery, it has.
And finally, I said that the challenges of a difficult economy would show us what we are made of; that the best of us would emerge leaner, tougher, stronger, and better prepared than ever to face the challenges and exploit the opportunities of the future. As I look back over the trials and triumphs over the past year, I am more convinced of this than ever. To be sure, black-owned businesses–and Black Enterprise is no exception–had to battle for every piece of business in 2009. Yet once you finish reading this issue of BE, featuring the 38th annual listing of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses, you’ll come to the same conclusion that we have: the standard bearers of black business leadership are bloodied, but unbowed. The BE100s continue to distinguish themselves as among the best and brightest in American industry, showing that there’s nothing like a fight for survival to inspire financial discipline, operational efficiency, industry innovation and, ultimately, performance excellence. For evidence, we need look no further than our 2010 BE100s Companies of the Year.
For example, Thompson Hospitality, the Herndon, Virginia-based food services business led by CEO Warren M. Thompson, has generated double-digit year-over-year revenue growth each year since it was founded in 1992. And despite an economy in which most companies lost revenues, Thompson Hospitality continued its streak, with a 15.5% increase in annual revenues in 2009. This consistent growth, through good economies and bad, is due in large part to the company’s willingness to reinvent itself to match the realities of the marketplace–evolving from a strictly retail-restaurant strategy to a diversified food business with management operations in corporate dining, colleges and universities, and K—12 school districts, as well as restaurants and even a gourmet convenience store. Thompson Hospitality’s consistently strong performance, both in 2009 and over nearly two decades, has earned our recognition as this year’s Industrial/Service Company of the Year.
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Perhaps even more impressive is the 2009 performance of Avis Ford, based in Southfield, Michigan. A year ago, the devastation of the domestic auto industry forced the shutdown of hundreds of dealerships, resulting in a total overhaul of the be auto dealers list and a decision not to name an auto dealer of the year for the first time since our auto list was established in 1988. However, while the auto industry continues to retool for the global marketplace, Avis Ford, under the leadership of CEO Walter E. Douglas Sr. and his sons Edmond Douglas Jr., vice president and business development manager, and Mark Douglas, president of the dealership, has proven that a willingness to restructure and streamline operations while remaining laser-focused on customer service can result in double-digit revenue growth, even as neighboring dealerships are shutting down. When you consider that we’re talking about a domestic auto dealership, in a recessionary economy, in the Detroit metro area–one of the America’s hardest hit urban markets–then the performance of Avis Ford is nothing short of amazing, and clearly deserving of its recognition as our 2010 Auto Dealer of the Year.
But there’s more to achieving growth and profitability in a tough economic environment than retrenching. The best business leaders remain hyper-alert to market opportunities created when weaker performers are forced to fall back or go out of business altogether. That’s a big part of the story of how New York-based Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. L.L.C. (SBS)–ranked on the be investment banks list–became the fastest-growing public finance firm on Wall Street. Led by CEO Suzanne Shank, SBS executed an ambitious expansion plan, hiring the top specialists from larger, fallen Wall Street firms such as Lehman Bros. and gobbling up market share in the public finance business. As a result, SBS broke into the top 10 ranking of all municipal bond senior managers–a first for any minority-owned firm–and earned our recognition as the 2010 Financial Services Company of the Year.
And in advertising–an industry that had become increasingly cut-throat and competitive for black-owned agencies even before the economic downturn, and then tougher still with the plunge in auto industry ad spending–the performance of advertising agency GlobalHue, also in Southfield, Michigan, is nothing short of astonishing. Led by CEO Don Coleman, GlobalHue leveraged its well-established position as an innovative leader in multicultural marketing to earn recognition from Advertising Age as the nation’s No. 3 Hispanic agency, in addition to its position as the largest African American agency. And AdWeek named GlobalHue its Multicultural Ad Agency of the Decade. Combining all its different agencies, the full-service marketing communications firm–with clients including Verizon, Walmart, Chrysler Group L.L.C., U.S. Navy, Bermuda Department of Tourism, U.S. Census Bureau, and
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FedEx–is poised to break the billion-dollar barrier in annual billings. Clearly, GlobalHue is deserving of being named Advertising Agency of the Year for the second time this decade.
These outstanding CEOs are part of a proud legacy of entrepreneurial achievement chronicled by Black Enterprise since our founding four decades ago. After 38 years of publishing our annual report on the nation’s largest black-owned companies, no one knows better than we do that true excellence is proven over time. No one exemplifies this more than Don Barden, CEO of the Detroit-based Barden Cos. and our selection for the 2010 A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award. Named for the legendary Birmingham, Alabama, business titan Arthur G. Gaston Sr.,
recognized by BE as the greatest entrepreneur of the 20th century, the A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award annually recognizes an entrepreneur who has a consistently distinguished record of business achievement over the course of his or her career. Barden has proven more than deserving of this recognition.Currently competing successfully in casino/hotel operations and real estate development, Barden has earned BE100s Company of the Year honors in two different industries, in 2003 and in 1992 as a leading force in the cable television industry–proving his mettle in good economic times and bad. In addition, Barden has earned success as a newspaper publisher, a talk show host, and in local politics in Lorain, Ohio, while establishing himself as a shrewd negotiator with an appetite for risk and a knack for anticipating emerging business opportunities. Along the way, Barden served as role model and mentor to a generation of entrepreneurs, while remaining as active and forward thinking as ever.
Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, a new business owner, or a veteran CEO who’s seen your business pushed to the brink, I urge you to take heart, and follow the inspirational and instructional stories of excellence in the face of adversity featured in this, our 38th Annual Report on Black Business. For examples of how to not only survive but thrive in our rapidly changing, and challenging, economy, you can do no better than Barden and the other outstanding CEOs of the 2010 BE 100s.