Smart Business Magazine, May 2017
48 Smart Business Cleveland May 2017 This philosophy has led to great accomplishments for Petras Hes worked for Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt at General Electric James McNerney Jr at Boeing and Dave Calhoun when he was at Nielsen He put AssuraMed in position to be acquired by Cardinal Health and is now strengthening Sterigenics position as a global leader in the sterilization industry I want to win Petras says I never want to be satisfied Were a market leader and I view it that everybody wants our spot and we cant let that happen H eres a look at a few of the mergers and acquisitions that have shaped Clevelands top business leaders and the approach they take to get a deal done GREGORY J SKODA Chairman Skoda Minotti Several of us combined the accounting and insurance businesses we owned and merged into a small public company It was the first time an accounting firm ever in essence went public We had extraordinary capital partners and over the next two years we worked seemingly 24 7 365 built a team and looked at several thousand companies We bought over 130 companies and ended up building a company that had over a 2 billion market cap over 240 locations and over 5500 employees We challenged and changed many of the industry norms of the time It was quite an experience INVESTORS DEALMAKERS ENTREPRENEURS AspireNEO GREGORY J SKODA What advice has been most helpful to you in your career Almost every deal is unique and requires a customized approach Understand and respect the positions of the other parties in the transaction Take strong positions on the issues that matter most to the client and find effective solutions to get the deal done BRIAN ONEILL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT CHAIR TUCKER ELLIS LLP Never do anything if you dont understand why you are doing it Always ask the next question Do it the right way GREGORY J SKODA CHAIRMAN SKODA MINOTTI Dont oversell your capabilities to a client customer You want to build long term relationships If you oversell and dont meet expectations the relationship will be harmed However if youre honest you will develop a trust with the client customer that is likely to lead to greater business opportunities PETER VAN EUWEN PARTNER BAKERHOSTETLER You are riding on the shoulders of a lot of people Treat them well and trust them Hire better than you they make for better shoulders PHILIP ALEXANDER CEO BRANDMUSCLE INC AS P I R E 2 0 1 7 C ONFERENCE P A N E L S P E A K E R S HOBY HANNA Howard Hanna RAMZI Y HERMIZ Shiloh Industries Inc CHRIS HYLAND Hyland CHRIS JONES Align Capital Partners STEWART KOHL The Riverside Co ED KRAINE The Fedeli Group
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