CNY entrepreneurs win E & Y regionals

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jun 23, 1997

Ernst & Young has chosen its regional finalists in its ninth annual Entrepreneur Of The YearR program.

For the upstate New York region, two Central New Yorkers garnered awards this year--Alfred J. and Aminy I. Audi, president and vice president/secretary, respectively, of L&J.G. Stickley, Inc. of Manlius, "Manufacturing Entrepreneurs of the Year"; and William G. Pomeroy, president of CABLExpress Corporation of Syracuse, "Distribution Entrepreneur of the Year."

Winners are chosen on the basis of several factors, including financial growth of the company, growth in the number of employees, the story behind the success of the entrepreneur, and unique characteristics that set the entrepreneur apart from his competitors.

Alfred Audi is a graduate of Colgate University and before moving to Syracuse was president of E.J. Audi, Inc., his family business since 1928. Aminy Audi is a graduate of New York University and a former reporter for the Voice of America.

Founded in 1900 by Leopold and John George Stickley, L&J.G. Stickley is a manufacturer of solid cherry, mahogany, and quartersawn white-oak furniture. When the Audis purchased it in 1974, it was an ailing company with 22 employees. Today, there are 850 employees, and its products are distributed internationally through nearly 120 selected dealers. In New York State, Stickley owns retail showrooms in Manlius, Rochester, Albany, White Plains, and Manhattan. Stickley is considered by many as the finest solid-wood manufacturer in the country.

Stickley's carefully selected distribution has earned the company the loyalty of its dealers, a loyalty demonstrated in 1989 when many took a leap of faith and bought the reissued Mission Collection while uncertain about its success and marketability. Today, there is no doubt that the single most important factor in Stickley's staying power has been reissuing the Mission Oak Collection made at the turn of the century by Gustav and Leopold Stickley. It was instantly hailed by the media as the "Revival of the Fittest" and now accounts for more than 60 percent of Stickley's sales.

William G. Pomeroy has been an entrepreneur for as long as he can remember. As a boy in Binghamton, he operated a lemonade stand, sold doughnuts and coffee at construction sites, and engaged in other entrepreneurial activities.

After earning an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and a master's in business administration with a major in marketing from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Pomeroy worked in California's Silicon Valley, as a computer salesman for IBM.

Realizing that he was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole--a characteristic of many entrepreneurs--he left IBM in the early 1970s and traveled to South America. Two years later, he returned to New York State, working as a computer leasing agent until he founded Reliance Used Computer Corp. in 1978 in Syracuse. It became CABLExpress in 1980.

CABLExpress is a direct marketer of computer networking and mainframe connectivity solutions. Pomeroy recognized the need for such a business during his tour with IBM. With his life savings of $50,000 and operating out of the garage at his home, he launched a business that employs about 200 people today and expects to add 300 more over the next two years.

With sales in recent years growing by increments of 30 and 40 percent annually, and a work force expanding rapidly, CABLExpress is consolidating its three Syracuse-area offices and moving into a local landmark, the former Switz's department store in North Syracuse, with its distinctive Swiss chalet design and clock tower. Pomeroy sees no end to the company's sales growth. CABLExpress is a business that appears to resist recession because it provides companies with alternatives to costly new computer mainframe systems. One of Pomeroy's strengths is that he understands the ramifications of technological change, interprets how it affects his business, and is willing to change course as needed.

The Audis and Pomeroy were honored at an Awards Banquet held June 20 in the Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom in Buffalo. In November, as winning Entrepreneurs they attend the national conference of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Institute at Marriott's Desert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Springs, Calif.

This year, program sponsors also include the Entrepreneur Of The Year Institute, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, USA Today, and the NASDAQ Stock Market.