Hartford Business Journal

26 Hartford Business Journal • July 27, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS 2020 CATEGORY | 76-199 FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES — SOUTHINGTON-BASED WINTERBERRY Winterberry Garden's diversification play leads to fertile growth By Natalie Missakian Special to the Hartford Business Journal I t was Thanksgiving eve 2018 and Winterberry Garden em- ployees were working late into the night, assembling garland with bulbs and decorations so they could be loaded onto trucks and driven north to MGM Springfield. The casino had just opened that August, weeks after orders for holi- day decorations typically are placed with suppliers. Because of the late timing, the garland and the accom- panying trimmings could only be shipped to Winterberry unassembled. But employees did what they need- ed to do to deliver on Winterberry's promise to have the decorations up by the Monday after the holiday. "We ended up pulling all of our office staff into the greenhouses," recalled Chief Financial Officer Bryan Stolz. "Myself and about a dozen others were there until 10 o'clock at night, wrapping up the last of it. We were able to get it done on time and it looked fantastic." That kind of commitment is what has kept Winterberry in business — and growing — since brothers Scott and Al Leavitt founded the company in Cheshire in 1985 with just "a pickup truck, some shovels and an old trac- tor," said Stolz. Since moving to Southington some 20 years ago, the land- scaping and con- struction compa- ny has expanded and diversified, bringing on a third owner, Chris Daigle, a li- censed irrigation professional. Today, the company offers services that include landscape maintenance, fertilization, residential and commer- cial landscaping and design and golf course irrigation and service in addi- tion to its retail garden center on West Street. The company has grown 60% in the last three years alone, to 175 team members at peak season, Stolz said. Much of the recent growth has been in the golf course irrigation business, where Winterberry has made a name for itself with cli- ents in several states, including Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida. Maintenance service has also grown organically through word-of-mouth, said Stolz. "A lot of our clientele really appreci- ate the fact that we can do so many things in-house," he said. "Because we're organized into departments, you're always getting a specialist." Stolz said the company is proud of the way it re-prioritized its busi- ness during the COVID-19 pandemic, launching an online sales tool and curbside pickup at the garden center. Another point of pride is the compa- ny's commitment to employee growth. Stolz himself started as a junior designer 13 years ago after graduating from UConn School of Business, and worked his way up to CFO. His career trajectory is not unique at Winterberry. "Our retail manager started here working a shovel in the garden center and now he's one of our senior managers." Stolz said. "We try to identify star performers and let them guide their own career." CATEGORY | 200-PLUS FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES — WATERTOWN-BASED THE SIEMON COMPANY Siemon family protects legacy of century-old IT infrastructure manufacturer By Natalie Missakian Special to the Hartford Business Journal A s president of a fam- ily business with more than a century of history behind it, Carl N. Siemon sees himself as more than just the top executive at Siemon Co. He's a protector of its legacy. It's not a responsibility he or his brothers, John and C.K., who run the company with him, take lightly. "We really view our roles as stew- ards," said the fourth-generation leader, who will hand over the reins to his nephew, Henry, at the end of this year. "Our job is to turn the company over to the next generation in better shape than we found it." Siemon's great-grandfather and namesake, Carl F. Siemon, a chemist and plastics industry pioneer, launched the Siemon Hard Rubber Company in Bridgeport in 1903. Its first prod- uct was an imitation stag-horn knife handle made from a durable plastic. Three years later the company broke into the brand-new telecom- munications market, manufacturing a three-pole connecting block that became a staple for Western Electric, the predecessor to AT&T, which remains a present-day customer. Siemon moved its headquarters in 1954 from Bridgeport to Watertown, where a museum displays a collec- tion of the company's earliest prod- ucts, from ear and mouth pieces for the first telephones, to rifle butts, lamp switches and poker chips. Today the company remains true to its telecom roots, specializing in the design and manufacturing of high-performance IT infrastructure. With some 400 patents and more than 20 lo- cations around the world, the maker of copper and optical fiber cabling sys- tems, cabinets, racks and more, boasts custom- ers in more than 100 countries. High-profile clients include MGM Grand resorts and Dodger Stadium. Siemon, president since 1982, credits the values instilled by his predecessors as a key to the company's longevity. They include teamwork, service, sus- tainability, family, quality and innova- tion — and were on full display during the COVID-19 public health crisis. Not only did Siemon meet an un- precedented demand for enhanced IT infrastructure as the world went virtual, but it answered the call for personal protective equipment (PPE) by donating its supply of N95 masks to local hospitals and 3D- printed plastic face shields for first- line health responders. When Yale New Haven Hospi- tal called with an urgent need to expand its network during the pan- demic, the company came through with 20,000 feet of cable and the accompanying accessories within two hours of getting the order. "Our standard lead time is very short, five days typically, but two hours is pretty exceptional," said Siemon. Innovation is another Siemon hallmark. He said Siemon does for IT infrastructure what Apple does for smartphones: deliver intuitive, easy-to- use and reliable products to customers. "We have some fiber and copper connectors invented right in Con- necticut that will enable a technician to prepare and install cables in half the time of other brands," he said. And while competitors moved their assembly operations to low-cost locations abroad in the 1990s, Siemon remained in the state and invested in custom automation equipment, he said. "If you come through our facility you'll see one-of-a-kind machines that are automatically assembling our products," said Siemon. "We've been able to maintain a presence in Connecticut because of that auto- mation capability." PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Siemon family (L-R): John, CTO and board chair; Henry, incoming CEO; Mary Ruth; Carl, CEO; Cynthia Siemon Wyatt, board member; CK, president of GPS Division.

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