St. Louis entrepreneur buys Executive Data Control

A St. Louis entrepreneur closed this week on the purchase of Springfield printing and supply-chain management firm Executive Data Control Inc.

Walker Deibel bought the business Feb. 23 from Stephen Visio for an undisclosed price.

In the acquisition, Deibel picked up the company’s book of business - which was over 400 clients last year - 13 employees and its physical assets at 4331 W. Calhoun St.

Deibel learned the company was for sale through his St. Louis certified public accountant, who connected him with Gary Rogers of the The Kingsley Group in Springfield. Deibel said Visio left the company and plans to develop a search-engine optimization startup.

Deibel, who operates the company through Centra LLC, said he’s rebranding the business as EDC and will focus on improving its core business while boosting e-commerce and software solutions.

“What we’re trying to do is upgrade the processes and upgrade the dependability of the existing structure,” he said. “My main focus is improving the infrastructure and ascertaining that our customers are getting an absolutely remarkable experience when they work with EDC.”

Deibel, who will commute to Springfield two times a week, brought on a general manager - who he declined to name - and will serve as president of the firm.

EDC posted 2014 revenue of $3.5 million. Deibel said the company will likely improve on that figure this year, but his goal starting out will be to form relationships with customers and move forward with improvements.

Deibel opened and later sold Corley Printing Co. in St. Louis. He also founded Deibel Films LLC and invested in ViewPoint LLC, a mobile startup, according to his LinkedIn page.