When family business owners gather, it seldom takes long for the issue of succession planning to come up.Beverlee Dacey, owner of Amodex, a stain solutions company in Bridgeport, knows the subject well. She’s lived through both the ups and downs.For more than 50 years, the stain removing formula developed by her father had provided the […]
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When family business owners gather, it seldom takes long for the issue of succession planning to come up.
Beverlee Dacey, owner of Amodex, a stain solutions company in Bridgeport, knows the subject well. She’s lived through both the ups and downs.
For more than 50 years, the stain removing formula developed by her father had provided the economic backbone for the family. Succession planning started only when he became ill in late 2004.
Dacey was working in development for an independent school. When her two brothers passed on joining the business, she agreed to start winding down her work at the school with the thought of joining Amodex in July 2005.
Those plans changed suddenly that April when her mother was killed by a drunk driver, she explains. Suddenly, she was in charge of a declining manufacturing firm and had to find some answers. Fast.
She describes the experience as “a re-start-up,” all the problems of a start-up overlaid on outdated technology, marketing and fulfillment.
The underlying product – an eco-friendly soap-based stain remover that worked on virtually every stain on every surface – was solid. And her mother had managed to reach a valuable endorsement deal with the maker of Sharpies and a host of other pens.
As Dacey explains it, the customer service team at Sharpie was tired of dealing with claims filed by irate customers unable to get the indelible ink out of clothing, furniture and carpets. They tested Amodex and quickly embraced the product as the answer.
So the cupboard wasn’t bare when Dacey became CEO, but she had a lot of work to do.
Her first step, she recalls, was a rebranding with new packaging, colors and “pop.”
It worked; people noticed and Amodex was on an upward trajectory. Consumer Reports called the product a “must have in every home.” Martha Stewart recommended it.
The production line got a refresh and a conversation started about finding larger quarters.
Then lightning struck. Lowe’s tested the product and bypassed test marketing to roll it out in 1,100 stores in 2015.
It was an exciting and pressure-filled time as Amodex geared up to meet the new demand. Dacey connected with the state’s Business Express program for a loan that allowed the development of and move to a new site, still in Bridgeport.
Today, Amodex is sold in several major retailers as well as online through its own website. It’s sold in English-speaking markets including the United Kingdom and Australia. Bilingual packaging was developed to allow sales in Canada, which requires packaging to include French and English.
And a succession plan is in place. “We’re not going to make the same mistake twice,” Dacey says.
She has four children -- two sets of twins. With one set in college and the other set in high school, she called a family meeting. She laid out the situation and the need for a succession plan.
As she thinks back on her own childhood, she said the family business permeated life and she absorbed details of the operation “by osmosis.” Her children seemingly had a similar experience and when given the chance to opt in, the verdict was unanimous. “We were all all-in,” she says.
The succession plan that evolved divides the company stock evenly but designates daughter Marica as the next CEO. “She’s the one who brings the others together,” Dacey explains, adding the others are carving out their own niches.
Marica will face some stiff challenges, Dacey notes. Only 6% of manufacturing companies are controlled by women. And while Connecticut has organizations for women CEOs, there are fewer places to turn for help in the manufacturing realm.
A few years ago, Dacey did a video commercial for Bridgeport and is on the Regional Business Council. She’s also on the board of the state Manufacturing Fund. But she acknowledges she had considered moving out of state to avoid the tax and regulatory burden.
Like at other crossroads, Dacey chose perseverance. She got involved and says things are getting better. She points to the 2014 creation of the Manufacturing Fund and its voucher program that has invested $90 million in matching funds for varied purposes from expansion to technology.
Her wisdom for other small business owners is to get out of the office and connect with the community. Learning what’s new in this fast-moving society may well trigger a thought that helps your business, she advises.
