Date: September 21, 2017
Karen: 949.370.1442, karen@catholicbusinessjournal.biz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Verdin Company
On today’s show, The Mentors Radio Host John Phillips interviews Bob Verdin, a sixth generation co-owner of The Verdin Company, regarding the secret to his family-owned company’s longevity and success, even during some very challenging economic times.
Many people do not realize that family businesses generate 62% of employment in the U.S. and account for 78% of all new job creation. About 35% of Fortune 500 companies are family-controlled. Yet more than 30% of all family-owned businesses survive only into the second generation. Only 3% operate at the fourth generation and beyond. That makes The Verdin Company, which masterfully crafts and restores bells and clock tower clocks, a rare phenomenon: retaining its family-owned business status well into its sixth generation with no end in sight!
Currently celebrating the company’s 175th Anniversary, Bob Verdin is passionate about his work. It’s not “just business” for him, nor for his co-owner cousin, nor for their employees.
“I’ve had a passion for it my whole life,” says Verdin, who began working for the family business during summer at age 14, increasing to working five days a week in the summer at age 16 and after school. “I’ve never wanted to do anything else.”
In this interview, listeners will learn what the company did to survive the Great Depression, how his great grandfather, I.T. Verdin, invented the first automated bell ringer, and how each bell is individually cast and unique in its sound and “personality.”
Listeners will also learn how powerfully a town clock or church bell affects its community, emotionally, and how the Verdin family understand that their work is far more than merely casting and restoring beautiful bells. In fact just recently they had the privilege of restoring an historic bell that was originally cast by Paul Revere! Imagine that!
The Mentors Radio Host John Phillips is the co-founder and co-owner, with his wife, Mary, of one of the largest and most customer-centric stained glass window companies in the industry–Associated Crafts and Willet-Hauser. Their work includes legacy stained glass windows more than a century old.
Rotating hosts Tom Loarie, CEO of BryoLogyx and a pioneering CEO in the life sciences and healthcare industry, and Ric Brutocao, former president of DACOR and a business pioneer in several industries, round out The Mentors Radio show hosting line-up.
“The Mentors” radio show can be heard on the Salem Communications network stations KTRB AM860 San Francisco (Saturdays, 7am and Sundays, Noon) and KCBQ AM1170 San Diego (Saturdays, Noon), and on-demand podcast nationwide at: www.TheMentorsRadio.com.
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