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Firm leaves stamp of success worldwide

Born out of Depression-era necessity, four generations of a Cuban-American family expand their business beyond Tampa Bay.

By Christina Rexrode
Published October 28, 2007

"He always said he was an entrepreneur out of necessity," said 45-year-old Mark Govin, the entrepreneur's grandson. "It was either that or starve."

Today, the company does more than keep the Govins from going hungry. MarkMaster Inc., which makes customized seals, stamps, name tags and signs, has 100 employees in Tampa and an arm's-length list of big-name customers like Wachovia, Bank of America, Allstate and Federated Department Stores Inc., the parent company of Macy's.

And it's getting bigger: It has an enviable balance sheet, increasing revenue at least 20 percent each year for the past five years. It's about to outgrow its just-expanded headquarters in the Tampa Industrial Park. And it plans operations in South America or Central America next year.

Family affair

President Mark Govin runs MarkMaster with his brother, Kevin, who is the CEO, and his dad, Ron, who is the chairman. Mark Govin's older son, Robert, who is 24, works in estimating and vendor relations.

Only a third of family businesses pass successfully to a second generation, let alone a fourth. But Mark Govin sees those ties as a tactical advantage. That's why all the Govins work in the family business until they finish school. Then, they can decide whether to stay.

That ensures that the company's top brass have a long-held understanding of the products and the business, empathy for the employees, and appreciation for each department.

"If you need to sweep the floor," Govin said, "you sweep the floor. There's no job beneath a Govin."

But vision and flexibility, not just bloodlines, also have been integral to the success of MarkMaster, a company whose primary equipment once consisted of clay molds.

MarkMaster adapted online ordering early on, even though it cost "a fortune," as Govin describes it. "But it's not about what we want," he reasoned. "We want to sell stamps, name badges, banners. But they (our clients) had gone to these new programs, so I had to embrace them."

Another move to stay ahead of the competition is the planned expansion south of the equator. Govin estimates that there are 400 U.S. companies that make rubber stamps in volume, and virtually none of them can compete on a global basis. MarkMaster's international additions will allow it to bid for the accounts of corporate giants who might require that all bidders have an international presence.

Worldwide operation

MarkMaster operates in the United Kingdom, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The company's worldwide footprint has made it the only qualifying bidder for several big jobs, according to Govin.

"We are very pleased," he said, "to be in a very small pond."

Some of Govin's employees remember when he was a little boy. Govin, for his part, remembers when doing business in Tampa was a local affair.

Those days are over.

Even if MarkMaster were not expanding overseas, he points out, it would face global competition.

As an example, Govin recalled a local bank that was a MarkMaster customer for several decades. When it was bought by a much larger bank, MarkMaster had to contend for that account with companies across the country.

It's the most notable way that doing business here has changed in the past 70-plus years.

"It's not just Tampa Bay anymore," said Govin.

Mark Govin

Mark Govin, the great-grandson of Cuban immigrants, takes pride in his heritage, but it's not the sum of his identity.

Govin loves Cuban food, is active with a passel of Hispanic and minority groups, once served on the minority advisory board to former Gov. Jeb Bush and sponsors scholarships for low-income Latinos at the University of South Florida.

But, he says, referring to the scholarships, "it's nothing against non-Latinos."

Govin's mother is from Michigan; his wife, from Georgia. "I've melted into America," he says, and he's proud of that, too.

On how to help minority businesses:

Programs that are well-intentioned, like requiring government agencies to do a certain amount of business with minority-owned companies, are necessary, valuable and usually helpful, but they can backfire, too. "I've actually been hurt by telling a buyer I was a minority firm. And yet they request to know because they have programs to diversify their vendor base."

[Last modified October 25, 2007, 14:14:36]