Company address: 6501 West Donges Bay Road, Mequon
Company Web site: www.glmt.com
Industry: CD/DVD manufacture
and duplication
Number of employees: 65
Education: B.S. from Northwestern University, 1992
Family: Wife, Angela, and children Jonathan, Daniel, Michael,
Matthew and Emily
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
"We went against our fears about interest rates, rising raw material costs and the potential for a slowdown in the economy and invested heavily in new equipment and people."
What’s new at your company?
"Even though we are all about ‘new’ and ‘exciting’ technologies, the newest thing at GLMT is a broader, nation-wide focus on growth and new customers."
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
"Our shopping list is long and quite extensive. We are adding on to our facility, purchasing more manufacturing, printing and packaging equipment, and snapping up the best people we can find."
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
"Raw materials like plastic have risen in cost dramatically. Our challenge continues to be staying competitive and delivering quality products and services to our vast array of customers. We want them to keep coming back and hanging up on our competitors."
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
"Speed of delivery, outside-the-box thinking when it comes to solving your customer’s problems and constantly innovating to master the art of what your customers don’t need today, but will need tomorrow."
Do you have a business mantra?
"When in doubt, fool everyone into believing that you know what you are doing."
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
"I admire anyone who has experienced a long line of failures on their path to success. Risk-adverse people may avoid failure, but they rarely experience much success, either."
What was the best advice you ever received?
"After making a terrible decision on an investment, I was bemoaning the amount of cash I had lost. A blunt associate who I admire said to me, ‘Get over it. It’s only money. You’ll make more.’"
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
"I once tried to close a sale to a big customer by demonstrating how strong a new case was by jumping up and down on it. It completely shattered, and I fell and hit my head on the conference room table. I think I got the sale because they felt sorry for me."
What do you like to do in your free time?
"What exactly is this ‘free time’ you speak of? I’d like to learn more about that."
May 13, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI
