Northpinellas: She's queen of a bureaucratic jungle

CLEARWATER -- Enterprise Zone. 8(a) certified. HUBZone. Brownfields. Incumbent Worker Training Program. IPC-610B certification. Small Business. 504 CDC program.

At face value, the names are bureaucratic gobbledygook. But Clearwater businesswoman Sue Englander saw something else: opportunity.

As a small-business owner, Englander, 46, has spent years making sense of each program and certification. As a result of her tenacity, her company, EEI/Mod-Tech, has scored thousands of dollars in economic incentives, earned a competitive edge in the electronics manufacturing marketplace, forged a partnership with a $1.6-billion aerospace and defense company, and won a $4.7-million contract to build circuit board assemblies for Naval missile sensors.

Englander expects to boost gross sales to $5-million in 2002 from this year's $3-million.

"We're making strides," Englander said. "It's challenging."

Local officials say the benefits have extended to the community, as well. Last year, she relocated her business to Grand Central Street, an area targeted by the city for economic redevelopment.

Englander renovated and cleaned up a large, dirty industrial building. As part of one program, Englander gave jobs to residents from the neighborhood.

"Her going door to door to get employees in the neighborhood to meet the requirements of hiring within the zone is probably the most incredible," said Mike Meidel, president of the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce. "Sue is definitely a special case. I'm not aware of anyone else in the area that's done anywhere near the extensive use of incentives that she has."

Her employees say EEI is a place where they can grow. Managers say they work to teach those who build the electronics not just how to assemble pieces but why they work as they do so they understand the systems. Although employees have left for personal reasons, Englander said, no one has ever quit.

"It's really a vision of where we're going that makes this company work," said manufacturing manager and electrical engineer Greg Spiegel. "Everybody has the same idea of where we're going."

These days, city officials say EEI/Mod-Tech serves as a model of how small businesses can make the dizzying array of local, state and federal programs work to their benefit.

"She's really a good example of how it can be done," said Miles Ballogg, Clearwater's economic development programs manager. "Basically, she's a very savvy businessperson who figured out what incentives are out there."

* * *

Eight years ago, Englander was a single mother who wanted out of the corporate world. She had spent 16 years working for national distributors of electronic components and found the career took too much time away from her son.

So she rented a 300-square foot office on Duncan Avenue and started EEI/Mod-Tech, an electronics manufacturer. The company grew, and Englander began to investigate opportunities for small and women-owned business through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Every year, the federal government awards billions of dollars in contracts to large companies such as Raytheon or Honeywell, who in turn hire smaller companies for some of the work. To be competitive, those large companies must show the government that they will meet government diversity goals by subcontracting with small or women-owned or minority/disadvantaged or veteran-owned or HUBZone businesses.

In about 1995, Englander set out to position EEI/Mod-Tech as a desirable subcontractor. To do so, she would relocate her business, hit the streets recruiting workers and wade through federal regulations and applications.

"It does make it difficult for small businesses," Englander said. "It's hard to dig through it all. You've got to have stamina."

Englander wanted to strategically place her company in Clearwater's HUBZone, an area that comprises two census tracts designated by the federal government as historically underutilized business zones. The federal government gives contracting preference to small businesses within the zones that obtain certification. To do so, a business must hire 35 percent of its employees from a HUBZone.

"It was really tough to find a building the size we needed in a HUBZone in Clearwater," Englander said. "We needed something we can grow into."

Driving around one day, Englander happened upon a 18,400-square-foot warehouse-style building at 703 Grand Central Street south of downtown and in the HUBZone. Plenty big enough. But it was partially occupied and the owner was trying to rent the rest.

"Before I left, I said, 'Would you consider selling?"' Englander recalls. "Within days, we had a deal struck."

Englander closed on the building in April 2000 and financed the purchase andrenovations with a $750,000 loan through the SBA. The company moved to the building in October and is using only 10,000 square feet, which leaves room to expand.

Because the building is located in Clearwater's Brownfield Area, the city pitched in $17,300 in federal and state money to help pay for environmental testing, an asbestos survey and the removal of an hydraulic lift system that had been in the building.

To hire workers to meet the HUBZone requirements, Englander visited local churches, talked with leaders at the North Greenwood Association and posted fliers in apartment complexes within the zone. Anne and Timothy Dowell, who live in the Main Street Apartments on Missouri, responded to one of her fliers, and both were hired.

"It was great," said Mrs. Dowell, a production planner. "We were looking through the papers and going to open houses."

Mrs. Dowell said she is being trained to do configuration control and enjoys the opportunities EEI offers her.

"If you see something you like, she lets you try it," she said. "She uses people power."

Skills building is an integral part of the company's mission. A grant administered by the county is paying for half the roughly $3,000 cost of two worker training programs that will teach employees computer skills and how to operate of one of EEI's machines.

The company also has benefitted from being in an enterprise zone. In January, EEI received a $2,000 state sales tax refund when it purchased a $50,000 piece of equipment.

Ultimately, EEI obtained a variety of federal certifications as a woman-owned, small,disadvantaged, HUBZone business. Those distinctions open doors with larger companies and help her stand out from among the competition.

"You've got to want it," said Thaddeus Hosley, public information officer for the U.S. Small Business Administration's South Florida district office in Miami. "You've got to realize the potential benefit for the business is worth the effort to get it."

Through one of the certifications, known as 8(a) and given to socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, EEI has taken advantage of a mentor-protege program. Six months ago, Clearwater's Alliant Integrated Defense Co., a division of the $1.6-billion national defense contractor Alliant Techsystems, became EEI's "mentor." The federal government is giving Alliant $2.7-million over three years to provide technical training for EEI employees. When three years is up, the goal is for EEI to be a certified Department of Defense contractor.

EEI is in the first year of a $4.7-million, five-year contract with Alliant to build circuit board assemblies for the Navy's AAR-47 missile detection system for aircraft. It's EEI's largest contract yet.

Alliant officials said EEI's status as woman-owned, small, disadvantaged and HUBZone business is attractive. And with the contract and the mentoring program, EEI was a good fit, said Tyler Turcotte, purchasing manager for Alliant Integrated Defense.

Through the mentoring program, Alliant is assured of getting high-quality components for the $150-million system Alliant is creating for the Navy.

"If we can make her a winner, we are winner," Turcotte said. "She'll provide us with an excellent product, high in quality, and on-time delivery."

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