Jack Stack targets $100M balance sheet before retirement

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Photo Gallery: 12 People You Need to Know with Jack Stack

Jack Stack is nearing retirement, but first he wants to make sure his company’s financial house is in order.

While the 68-year-old CEO of SRC Holdings Corp. doesn’t have a concrete date in mind, he has a quantifiable financial figure for the company that produces some $550 million in annual revenues with 1,700 employees.

“Our goal is to have $100 million in the balance sheet by ’19,” Stack said this morning, speaking as the monthly guest for Springfield Business Journal’s 12 People You Need to Know live interview series. “You measure the success of the company by the success of the balance sheet.”

Declining to disclose the company’s progress toward that level of retained revenue, Stack said his succession plan in the works for 10 years, called “Ready, Aim, Fire,” is key.

The goal, in part, is to build up the manufacturing suite of companies’ current workforce so they’re ready to transition into senior positions.

“We’re trying to promote the idea that anybody can grab the brass ring,” he said. “Our talent pool is really, really getting stronger.’”

SRC also works with schools to promote manufacturing jobs, including partnering with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s Greater Ozarks Centers for Advanced Professional Studies.

Stack said the company converted one of its factories into a school room and has sent more than 60 students through the program.

“We want to build a 100-year-old company,” he said  “We’re not building a company to flip.”

Stack’s balance sheet goal times with his forecast of the next recession. Based on his and other SRC officials’ calculations, the company is preparing for an economic downturn in 2019.

SRC also is continually diversifying its product line among its 13 core business units. For example, the company is able to do well during recessions by selling car parts — when people don’t buy new cars — and buying up property when it’s less expensive.

“You want to position yourself in such a way that you’re ready for a downturn,” Stack said.