The Progress Index - June 17, 2005
Prince George company wins first place at Ernst & Young's 2005 Virginia Awards Gala
BY SUSAN ROBERTSON
RICHMOND - The founders of Service Center Metals received the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award at last night's 10th annual Virginia Ernst & Young Awards Gala held at the Richmond Marriott Hotel.
"Our mission has been simple," said Bob Henley, managing partner with Ernst & Young's Richmond office as he welcomed finalists and their guests. "It is to recognize the achievements of Virginia business leaders. They have achieved success through determination, perseverance and by surrounding themselves with an outstanding group of individuals."
Six awards were to be given in categories including Master Entrepreneur, Information Technology, Distribution and Manufacturing, Lifetime Achievement, Emerging Entrepreneur and Services after attendees ate their dinner of petite filet and lobster dog.
Once the guests were finished with their meals, Henley introduced emcee, Stephanie Rochon of CBS 6.
"Virginia's not just for lovers, it's also a great place for business," said Rochon.
In the category of Emerging Entrepreneur, Service Center Metals was up against Compass Energy Services Inc., a natural gas provider out of Richmond and SnagAJob.com out of Richmond.
The Prince George company was named the winner.
"The American dream is alive and well in Prince George County," said R. Scott Kelley, president of SCM.
Kelley, Lloyd S. "Chip" Dollins, vice president, and R. Randolph Weis, vice president, are all former employees of Reynolds Metal Company. All three men had worked in the aluminum business for a long time and with all the consolidation going on in the industry, they thought there was "a good opportunity to open an extrusion mill that was 100 percent dedicated to supplying the service center market."
So that was what they set out to create.
They resigned from their six-figure jobs and mortgaged almost everything they owned to support themselves while they raised capital for their new aluminum extrusion plant. The men went 17 months without a paycheck while trying to find investors, but during its first 48 months in operation Service Center Metals has generated nearly $40 million in revenue. Now four years after they began their small start-up in Prince George County's SouthPoint Business Park, SCM is working on a $28 million dollar expansion that will double the size of the operation and triple their production capacity.
"It was a long hard struggle to get the money in the first place," said Lloyd S. "Chip" Dollins, vice president. "But we have good investors, incredible employees and great customers. I always knew we would be successful but this is beyond my wildest dreams."
The low point of the evening came just before the winners were announced.
Just as all of the nominees for the category were presented, a voice came over the Marriott loudspeaker instructing everyone to evacuate the building and avoid using the elevators.
Gala guests and hotel occupants all filed out of the building and into the streets while fire trucks and ambulances arrived on scene. The crowd was outside for nearly 20 minutes before they were told it was a false alarm and allowed back into the building.
Once everyone was seated again, Rochon proceeded as emcee and the trio from SCM was declared the winner. |
