Ozarks Profile

Owners of Salon Service Group, 1859 W. Arbor, a company that sells salon hair care products to cosmetology schools and salons in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Gino Barbo is president and chief executive officer of the company while Dana Barbo is general manager. This is the company's 12th year in business. Gino Barbo went to work for the company as a salesman and purchased it four years later. The company has had five locations in the Springfield area: three in Ozark and two in Springfield. The company carries KMS, Schwarzkopf, Abba, Farmesi and Tecnica products, and has recently added John Paul Mitchell products to its line. Salon Service Group is a member of the Beauty and Barber Supply Institute.

Age: Dana is 35; Gino is 38.

No. of years in Springfield/area: A native of Australia, Gino Barbo has been here 14 years. Dana, from Lowry City, began as a student at Drury College in 1985 and has been here since.

Education: Gino completed high school in Australia; Dana holds a degree in communications and business administration from Drury College.

Early career: Dana Barbo worked for the sports department while at Drury and, following graduation, worked for John Youngblood Motors as a customer service representative. She then was the registrar at Draughon Business College (now Vatterott) until her husband purchased what is now Salon Service Group. "When the phones started ringing, I started helping out, and now, here I am," Dana Barbo said. Gino Barbo was an electrician by trade in his native Australia and was also a professional athlete; cricket was his sport. He held a job with a snack food company in Australia and spent a few years in sales for that company (which is now owned by Frito Lay) before he came to the states. He met Dana while "on holiday with some mates" in Florida, he said, and after some long-distance courting, the two married and Gino moved to the Ozarks. His first job here was selling lamps for a sales company, and then he got the job with the salon products company through an employment agency.

Current projects: Having just added the Paul Mitchell products to its line, the company has also doubled its sales force in the last few months. The new building, at 1859 W. Arbor, has been a huge project, also and there will more yet more increases to the sales staff in coming months. Over the next several months, Salon Service Group plans to open remote retail stores in Kansas City and Oklahoma City. The company sells its products only to licensed cosmetologists; the stores will be for those hairdressers to walk in and pick up the items they need for their salons. Salon Service Group's headquarters in Springfield also has a retail section.

Management philosophy: "Making sure everyone associated with the company has the tools and knowledge to be successful. We hope they will take the leadership role in their own sales markets and we will support them the best way we can," Gino Barbo said.

Spare-time pursuits: Spending time with their three young children. Dana enjoys quilting and making scrapbooks; Gino is a golfer. Dana is also a Girl Scout troop leader for her daughter's troop.

Family data: The Barbos have three children: McKenzie, 6, a first grader at Sequiota; Garrison, 4; and Remington, 3.

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