Greater St. Louis TOP 50

St. Louis Commerce Magazine, Dec 01, 2004 by Nicholson, James

THE St. Louis RCGA, in partnership with the St. Louis office of Deloitte, is proud to present the Greater St. Louis Top 50 Award winners in this month's Commerce. The theme for the program is "Businesses Shaping Our Future," and the companies have been selected because of their significant contributions to the St. Louis region and their positive impact on the future of our business community.

The roots of the Top 50 trace back to 1996, when the St. Louis Regional Technology Fast 50 recognized those companies who excelled in the areas of technology, plant and life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. This year, the newly-named Top 50 program has been expanded to recognize companies in all industries.

Due to the number of outstanding companies submitting nomination forms, 53 companies are being recognized in this year's program.

Each nominee was measured on a variety of standards, including growth in number of employ enhancement of the community, revenue growth, acquisitions and the expansion and/or development of facilities. As in past years, the award committee was forced to make extremely tough decisions, based on the high number of truly outstanding nominees.

As part of the program, Graybar Electric will receive the prestigious Spirit of St. Louis Technology Award breaking $100 million infrastructure investment in an enterprise resource planning system.

All of this year's winners will be recognized at the annual awards dinner, to be held Dec. 7, 2004, at the St. Louis Science Center. This first-class event provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate successes and network with other members of our business opportunity. For more information and/or dinner reservations, please call Denise Hasty at (314) 444-1134.

The 2004 Spirit of St. Louis Technology Award, presented by the St. Louis office of Deloitte and the St. Louis RCGA has been awarded to Graybar Electric in recognition of its commitment to technology and the St. Louis region. Specifically, in 2002, Graybar invested over $100 million in an enterprise resource planning system to raise the bar on performance and value for its customers and suppliers. The project known as PACE (Performance, Agility, Collaboration, Efficiency) is an enterprise transformation using technology as a catalyst to streamline operations and increase the tempo for all in-house processes.

Graybar Chairman, President and CEO Robert A. Reynolds Jr. will be the first to explain that PACE was anything but a twoyear project. "In the late '90s, we were outgrowing our legacy system and we realized that upgrading our information technology would be of prime importance to our future. Realizing that knowledge is power and that those who own the knowledge will have power, we embarked on a major initiative designed to secure our leadership role in the industry."

Vice President and Chief Information Officer D. Beatty D'Alessandro was placed in charge of the project. "We had reached the critical point when we would run out of capacity," explains D'Alessandro. "In December 2001, we green-lighted the PACE project. On Oct. 11, 2004, we completed it. At many points along the way, it felt like the siege of Stalingrad."

During this time, Graybar purchased the most ubiquitous enterprise software available from German technology giant SAP. According to D'Alessandro, the experience gained from the PACE project has helped SAP become an effective thought leader for systems in the distribution industry.

Being unique is nothing new to Graybar. Founded as Gray & Barton in 1869 by Elisha Gray and Enos Barton (hence, Graybar), the company soon attracted new partner Anson Stager, the general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company. By 1872, Gray & Barton had become Western Electric Manufacturing. As practical uses for electricity expanded, so did Western Electric's business. By the end of the last century, it was the foremost manufacturer of telephone equipment (while also producing arc lamps, lighting equipment and various forms of electrically-powered machines ranging from fans to generators). Coinciding with the boom on its manufacturing side, the company experienced an equal boom in its distribution business, ultimately becoming the country's largest wholesaler.

By 1926, Western Electric had expanded to the extent that a separate entity was spun off merely for the distribution of supplies and equipment and the name Graybar was attached to the world's largest source of electrical supplies. A sticking point in the purchase of the new company was Western Electric's stipulation that employee benefits remain the same. Graybar employees solved the problem themselves, in what Reynolds says at the time was "the most unique buyout in the history of the country," by buying their own company. It has since remained an employee-owned concern.

Vice President for Human Resources and Strategic Planning Kathleen Mazzarella cites Graybar'ss "unique employee ownership culture" as a strength in the company's ability to move ahead of the norm. "Our employees tie together in a pro-company mindset. If any of us make a mistake, we realize that this is our company. We're very egalitarian."