Motor City man of steel: B.E. Company of the Year

Black Enterprise, June, 1998 by Eric L. Smith

After a legendary career in the NBA, The Bing Group CEO David Bing has carved an impressive niche into the auto industry

It's 1:15 in the afternoon. Riding in the back of a Detroit taxi presumably on its way to Bing Manufacturing, you are late and more than a little annoyed. You had a 1 p.m. meeting to interview company CEO David Bing. The only problem is your taxi driver has been circling aimlessly for the last 20 minutes. Ever get that sinking feeling you're hopelessly lost?

"You're sure about that address, right?" a voice queries from the front. "That sounds like it could be in Highland Park." A grunt from the back seat, "The address is right."

Precious minutes tick by. Just as you're about to hop out of the cab and hunt for the destination on foot, salvation appears in the form of a large red and white banner several feet away. "Wait, right there. See the Bing sign. Stop the cab!"

Slowing down as he eyes the sign, the taxi driver comes to a stop. Then he turns back to give you a good long look. "You mean you're going to see Dave Bing? You should have said that in the first pleat He's pretty well known in this town. Used to play basketball. Hear he knows a thing or two about business now."

Yes, as a matter of fact, he does. In the two decades since Bing retired from the National Basketball Association, he has masterfully played against the stereotype of superjock who tries and fails when attempting to cross over to the business arena Just the opposite--Bing has become such a well-known and respected force in Detroit over the last decades that there was a serious push to get the man to run for mayor several years ago--spearheaded by none other than the outgoing mayor, Coleman Young.

Over the course of 30 years, the 54-year-old Bing has become as much a part of Motown's landscape as the city's monumental Renaissance Center. A member of the board of directors of the Detroit Renaissance Committee, Economic Club of Detroit and Michigan Minority Development Council, Bing has not only witnessed Detroit's gradual rise from the ashes, but also been an integral part of its rebirth.

But most important, Bing has led by example. The Bing Group, which now encompasses five companies--Bing Steel, Superb Manufacturing, Bing Manufacturing, Detroit Automotive Interiors and Trim Tech L.L.C.--has been a primary supplier of products and services to the "Big Three" automakers--GM, Ford and Chrysler--for decades. With over 700 employees, 87% of which are minorities, The Bing Group is one of the largest employers on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100. Over the last five years, Bing has more than doubled revenues from $78 million in 1992 to $183 million in 1997. And in a city in need of leadership. Bing has been lauded as businessman, civic leader and philanthropist. For these reasons, The Bing Group has been selected as the 1998 BLACK ENTERPRISE Company of the Year.

MOTOWN'S MAN OF STEEL

Much has been made of the "Detroit Renaissance" over the last several years. With an up-and-coming downtown business district and burgeoning opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses, it appears good times are indeed returning to Motown. But it would be difficult for any outsider to truly appreciate just how far Detroit has come unless you were there during the dark days. Following the riots of 1967, when crime was at an all-time high and businesses were leaving the city in droves, Detroit was synonymous with urban blight and despair. But that's where David Bing chose to plant roots and call home.

Bing married when he was only 19. He arrived in Detroit in 1966 already a husband with two young daughters after being drafted by the Detroit Pistons. For a short while that first year was like a fantasy come true Having grown up on the Motown sound of Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson, Bing says, "One day you're listening to all these people on the radio and all of a sudden to come here and meet and become friends with a lot of them, those were fun times."

The good times didn't last for long. During Bing's first summer in Detroit, "We had the riots. I was 23 years old just coming here, and half the city burned," says Bing, who even now says he wasn't very surprised by what happened. "There were a lot of people angry for a lot of legitimate reasons. That doesn't justify what happened here, but it happened. And this city has been in a rebuilding mode ever since."

If you knew Bing's background, it wouldn't surprise you that he'd want to be part of that rebuilding process. He'd been groomed for entrepreneurship almost from the start. Bing's father worked as an independent contractor, then started his own construction company in Washington, D.C., in the late '50s and '60s. "And as a young man growing up and going out on jobs with him, I liked the idea of being the boss and running your own company." So Bing says his plans were pretty much set by the time he headed to Syracuse University, where he majored in business and minored in economics before graduating in 1966.