Cover Story Dawn Adams Dawn Adams has been in the material handling business since 1984, working her way to business ownership of Midway Industrial Equipment. The business services, rents and sells forklifts and industrial equipment. It includes two facilities - on the western and south sides of the Chicago metro area - and employs 45 workers. Adams said the business is fast-paced and sometimes challenging, but she enjoys problem-solving. “We exist to solve people’s problems,” she said. Her son, Mark Olson, also works in the business and Adams said she appreciates the family-based component to the operation. “He’s been around this his whole life,” said Adams, who said in his school years, her son would help out around the company when on breaks from the school schedule. “He decided to go into business and he loves this. I’m learning a lot from him now,” Adams said. When she started in the industry, Adams said there were almost no other women in the business. “People would say, ‘Can I talk to your boss? Is there a man there?” Said Adams, who as a business owner, also had to learn to manage men who were older and more experienced than she. In the years since, Adams said she has experienced the culture shift as more women started working in material handling and a more receptive atmosphere also became the norm. She said being well-versed in the business is key. “You get respect when you know what you’re talking about,” Adams said. Sally Hughes In 1987, Sally Hughes launched her business selling chair casters out of the trunk of her car. She was recently returned from L.A., where she had relocated after college to pursue a career in music and theatre. “I made a decent living at it, but after six years pursuing this dream, it wasn’t going to happen,” said Hughes, who said she was grateful to understanding parents who allowed her to follow the dream that set her on an entrepreneurial 10
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October 2018
path. “It taught me the value of perseverance and the ability to avoid and silence the naysayers,” she said. Today she is president and CEO of Caster Connection, a manufacturer of casters and wheels, and a master distributor of elite brandcasters, wheels and other material handling products. The launch of Hughes’ entrepreneurial efforts resulted from her father, himself a business owner, telling her of a contact who knew of schools needing casters for chairs. “I was always pretty creative anyway, so I decided to see if I could sell them to schools, office buildings and restaurants. I would take a bag of chair casters on consignment from my father’s company, a fishing tackle box to keep the stems and the various casters organized and a hammer, screwdriver and channel lock. “I’d introduce myself to the maintenance guy and tell him if he bought the casters from me, I’d put them on,” said Hughes, who sold quite a few chair casters and supported herself by playing piano in a piano bar. This work led her to a contact in need of some industrial wheels, which she bought and resold from a distributor. Then, she found a manufacturer who “decided to bet on a female from Cleveland who was motivated and energetic,” she said. The industry has changed over the years, with the development of elastomers, polyurethanes and other compounds, according to Hughes. “That’s where the industry began to change and the client expected a lot more from wheels to solve their challenges,” she said. Hughes believes there are lots of opportunities for women in the material handling field. “Like any business you get into, the same rules apply, at least in my mind: be relentless and persistent, have a good product, tell the truth, do what you say you’re going to do and always take care of the client,” she said. Carol Fontanez When Fontanez began as rental manager for Jamco Forklift Rentals four years ago, the business had just 10 forklifts and two customers. Today, the Florida-based business has almost 200 pieces of equipment and over 800 customers. She helped oversee Jamco’s transition from a used forklift