Max Coating’s New Partner

By Chuck Gault, Max Coating President

Around November of 2011, a business broker put Jack Phillips and I together. Jack was independently evaluating the acquisition in Atlanta that we were also looking into. We both saw the Atlanta acquisition as an opportunity, just coming from different directions with the same common goals.

Jack lives in the Atlanta area and has over twenty years of experience with large manufacturing companies. Jack served in various senior financial positions, most recently as the Corporate Controller for BWAY Corporation for approximately 14 years. He experienced a management change with BWAY and decided he would like to experience business ownership for his next step in his career. My partner and I met with Jack several times to discuss the Atlanta acquisition, and we quickly began to develop a business chemistry that showed great promise.

With our headquarters 140 miles away in Birmingham, Alabama, we needed an Atlanta guy. A guy that we could count on that would be there day in and day out. He could get there early and stay late. It’s a big thing when you make a deal to add a second location. If the guy we hired hadn’t panned out, that would have brought on a whole new set of challenges. So we needed someone who would be dedicated and reliable.

After a few months of getting to know Jack we decided he was our guy!  It wasn’t until the spring of 2012 that we decided to team up and do this deal together. He bought into the company so now we have a new plan, a new partner and a growing company.

Jack is not only our new Atlanta General Manager, he is our CFO and partner as well. While never having had a CFO, we now feel pretty good about what we refer to as “the three legs of the stool”. Three partners with different expertise in a business where each partner compliments the other. I’m from the business development end and my brother-in-law, and original partner, is an operations guy. With the addition of Jack, we now have a finance guy, an operations guy and the sales guy. Hence, the three legs of the stool that provides a sound foundation for our company. With our new partnership team in place we now feel like we have all of the bases covered.

It’s been a really good fit. We are so glad we found Jack. We have been just thrilled with his performance so far. He has been better than advertised, which is huge!

 

Birmingham, Alabama-based Max Coating is a leader in the metal finishing industry and provides electrocoating and powder coating services for automotive, industrial and agricultural manufacturers. Learn more at www.maxcoating.com.