From the age of 16, Guy Colby Mace had little doubt his future was with Turblex Inc., the business his father founded.
Mace says he was a teen when he realized after watching his father, Guy Mace, make a presentation that he was going to need two things out of his education if he would one day lead the company: a strong understanding of the technical aspect of a product or service, certainly, but also strong communication skills.
Already a natural communicator, Mace pursued a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, which he feels offered a more rounded education than other engineering schools.
He joined Turblex upon graduation in 2002 and now puts those skills to use as the company's CEO, a position he was chosen for in 2008, after his father already had retired.
Assuming a leadership role was particularly challenging because his father's interest in the company was bought in 2007 by Siemens AG, a German company. In 2008, the younger Mace took the reins as CEO and had to help employees make the transition from working for a family-run operation to being part of a multibillion-dollar international corporation.
"There's definitely an upside," Mace says of being part of Siemens, noting that the fiscally conservative corporation has weathered recent economic turbulence much better than most, and employee benefits packages are better.
Looking into 2010, Mace sees fresh challenges.
Turblex, which historically has manufactured aeration blowers for wastewater treatment plants and compressors for coal-fired power plants, is moving into a new facility and into new fields.
In February 2010, Mace will supervise Turblex's move from seven separate buildings into a 100,000-square-foot plant. Office space will remain about the same, at 20,000 square feet. But the production area will double to about 80,000 square feet.
"As we've grown, we couldn't build ... so we've got this campus of buildings where we're at and it's just ridiculous when it comes to logistics," he says.
The greater challenge, however, is venturing into new markets, specifically oil and gas.
"The great thing about Siemens is they can open doors that previously weren't open to us," Mace says.
With its entry into the oil and gas sector, Turblex is encountering a whole new host of issues.
"There are so many regulations and requirements in that business for two major reasons," Mace says.
"One, because you're dealing with things that explode ... and the other major thing is, if your equipment goes down, you're dealing with a customer who is literally potentially losing millions of dollars a day.
"Things that go boom and the money involved - it's just a whole different world than our traditional business."[[In-content Ad]]
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