The Progress Index - June 12, 2005

Service Center Metals founders nominated for Ernst & Young award

BY SUSAN ROBERTSON

PRINCE GEORGE - The founders of Service Center Metals risked everything four years ago to build their dream business from the ground up and now they've been nominated to receive the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The Ernst & Young EOY program honors outstanding businesspeople who build and manage dynamic and growing businesses.

"It's a great honor to be nominated," said R. Scott Kelley, president and CEO of Service Center Metals. "We have a truly outstanding work force and I think that's been one of the keys to our success."

Kelley, Lloyd S. "Chip" Dollins, vice president, and R. Randolph Weis, vice president, are all former employees of Reynolds Metal Company.

"We worked in the industry for a long time," said Kelley. "With all the consolidation taking place, including Reynolds Metals being bought out, we felt like there was a good opportunity to open an extrusion mill that was 100 percent dedicated to supplying the service center market."

And they set out to do just that.

The three men resigned from their jobs, leaving behind their six-figure salaries and mortgaging nearly everything they had to stay afloat while they raised capital for their new aluminum extrusion plant.

Kelley, Dollins and Weis went 17 months with a paycheck while setting up in Prince George's SouthPoint Business Park, but during their first 48 months of operation, Service Metals generated nearly $40 million in revenue.

"We focus on service quality and operational efficiency," said Kelley.

A nominee for the EOY Award must be the owner or manager of a public or private company who is responsible for the company's recent performance. The team at SCM was nominated by Becky McDonough, executive vice president with the Hopewell-Prince George Chamber of Commerce.

"It was really exciting to have company from our chamber that qualified," said McDonough.

An awards gala will be held this Thursday at the Richmond Marriott Hotel. Winners will be chosen in several categories by a panel of judges made up of entrepreneurs and prominent leaders in both business and academia. State winners are eligible to participate in the 2005 Ernst & Young EOY National program and attend an awards banquet to be held in Palm Springs, Calif. in November.