Expo unveiled: HGTV stars do well by doing good

June 1st, 2020

by Rebecca Post Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E Laine, the stars of HGTV’s “Good Bones,” will headline as keynote speakers at IFAI Expo 2020. When daughter-mother team Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E Laine rehabilitated their first house in 2007, they began a journey that morphed into a successful business and a binge-worthy series […]

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Richard Seaman on sustaining a family business

March 1st, 2020

By Rebecca Post An urgency runs through the pages of Richard Seaman’s book A Vibrant Vision: The Entrepreneurship of Multigenerational Family Business. That urgency stems from Seaman’s understanding that few family businesses survive beyond a third generation. Seaman, the chairman and former CEO of Wooster, Ohio-based Seaman Corp., offers a model to family-owned businesses for […]

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Polo Custom Products: from concept to production with a full range of services

December 1st, 2019

by Rebecca Post Everything is global now. There’s more opportunity to enter into partnerships with your customers now. You can make suggestions that will improve their business, and that’s even expected,” says Kent Lammers, CEO and president of Polo Custom Products. In fact, says Lammers, keeping pace with customer expectations is what transforms clients into […]

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Crafting shade at Auvents Ombrasole Awning

April 1st, 2019

Ombrasole designs, manufactures and installs awnings of all types for North American climates—many of which feature Emilio Petrongolo’s custom and patented motors. Emilio Petrongolo can trace his fascination with canvas and sewing back to his childhood in Italy, where his grandmother made jute bags for storing wheat. Petrongolo, director of R&D and marketing at Auvents […]

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