Tribute to the Life of Jim Findlay

TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF JIM FINDLAY -- (Extensions of Remarks - February 10, 2004)

SPEECH OF
HON. MARCY KAPTUR
OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I would like entered into the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD an article about a wonderful man, Jim Findlay.[From the Toledo Events Magazine, Jan. 2004]

MORE TO THE STORY

Entrepreneur adds two chapters to autobiography (By Sue Van Fleet)

If a life can be said to correspond to the pages in a book, then it was time for Jim Findlay to add a few more chapters.
The well-known entrepreneur. and philanthropist had written an autobiography in 2001. "In the Company of Friends" almost resembles a scrapbook, its text interspersed with photos, letters, poems, quotes and newspaper clippings.

Findlay was the chairman and co-founder of Impact Products, a business in Sylvania Township that provided supplies to the sanitary maintenance industry. But only six months after the book was printed, the company was sold to Park Avenue Equity Partners. At the time of the sale, Impact Products had 160 employees and more than $40 million in sales.

"Since the motivating purpose of the book was to create a permanent record of the company, I felt it would be important to talk about its sale" Findlay said.

Impact had become an employee-owned company in 1986 with the establishment of an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program). In March 1998, Findlay and his children sold their remaining interest to the ESOP trust, making the employees 100 percent owners of the company.

"Since I was leaving, they then had an opportunity to sell and get a 15 percent premium over what we were valued at," Findlay said. "So I encouraged them to do so, so they could diversify their holdings rather than have it all in Impact, which they did." Impact's employees averaged about $156,000 each from the sale, an amount that varied according to
their seniority.

"So they did good, and they really should, because it was the employees that made the company," Findlay said. "I've always felt very strongly that if you take care of the employees, they'll take care of the customers. We've always shared with them:'

The company brought in estate planning professionals and investment firms for seminars and individual counseling sessions to help them make good decisions regarding their investments.

"Over the next two weeks there were a lot of new cars in the parking lot," Findlay said. "And a lot of them were able to buy homes and do some things that they weren't able to before, so, I was very proud to be able to do that for my employees."

If he had to do it over again, would he have gone the ESOP route? Findlay says yes, but with some reservations. For instance, as the company's stock price increased, it created a debt that would have to be paid to employees who decided to tender their stock upon retiring or leaving the company. Findlay also fretted that he was putting his employees at excessive risk since so much of their personal investment was tied up in one asset. Both these problems were eliminated with the sale of the company to Park Avenue.

On the plus side, the ESOP gave every employee ownership in the company, increasing their motivation and giving Findlay a way of thanking them for their part in Impact's success.