2008 Economic Impact Awards Finalist, Entrepreneur of the Year: Sheila Collins

Collins moved to Springfield after a 27-year career in manufacturing, most recently serving as director of U.S. manufacturing for a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Collins first discovered Springfield in the 1990s while working at Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., and the community resonated with her. When she decided to pursue her life’s dream of business ownership, she decided to do it in the Ozarks.

“I’ve lived in seven or eight locations, and this is the first time I’ve gone in reverse,” Collins says. “This was the place I chose to come back to.”

She moved back in August 2004, and her first step was to assemble a professional support team: Ann Marie Baker of UMB Bank, Dwayne Fulk of Neale & Newman and Steve Huffham of Kirkpatrick, Phillips & Miller CPAs PC. With their support, Collins began a two-year process of research and due diligence that resulted in her purchasing the assets of Springfield Granite Co. in December 2006, when the company was working through a bankruptcy reorganization plan. Collins used a $1.88 million U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan from UMB Bank.

With the help of Operations Manager Tim Davis, Collins set about making the business, which she renamed Springfield Granite-Plus, her own.

She expanded her sales crew and invested in training and research and development. She also made some tough, but necessary, staffing changes.

“There were some people who had reached a level of technical ability and were either unable or unwilling to move beyond that,” Collins says. “When you only have a small organization, you can’t afford to have people that aren’t enrolled in the vision and pushing forward and excited about learning new things.”

The new year arrived and with it new challenges. The 2007 ice storm slowed demand for custom stone work. Also, Collins decided to sever ties with her company’s largest customer – a subdivision developer whose philosophy didn’t mesh with her strategic plan – which effectively cut 20 percent of her volume at a single stroke. Then came the challenge that no one foresaw: the national mortgage meltdown and the slowing of residential construction.

“Try as you might, do the best due diligence that you can, there are always going to be things that you haven’t taken into consideration,” Collins says.

“These were maybe a little larger than we might have expected,” she adds with a laugh.

So the company shifted gears, targeting small commercial jobs, custom work for hotels and condo development, including projects for downtown developer Craig Wagoner.

“She is constantly working to improve the business and to diversify the business, to make it stronger and healthier, and I think she will continue that,” Baker says. “She has a tenacity that is very impressive, and it shows. I’ve talked to some of her customers that she’s done work for, and they say the same thing.”

The business finished its first year under Collins with revenues of $1.4 million while maintaining salaries, benefits and making charitable contributions, including granite countertops for the kitchen at Isabel’s House crisis nursery.

When nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year, Collins says, her first instinct was to pass, because she didn’t feel her first year was that noteworthy.

“Then I sat back and thought about it, and in this climate, surviving with a new company – and growing – is noteworthy. So, I decided to give us all a little bit of credit,” she says.

Sheila Collins

Leaving behind a career in manufacturing, Collins purchased her company when its former owners were in the midst of a bankruptcy reorganization plan. After her first year, the company, which was renamed Springfield Granite-Plus, had revenues of $1.4 million.

Information accurate at the time of the honor.[[In-content Ad]]