(Cincinnati, OH) The Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati honored Pete Strange with the Alice and Harris Weston Apple Award last night at its annual Apple Award Gala for his leadership, advocacy and service to the community.
The Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati grants the Apple Award annually to an individual or entity that exemplifies the foundation’s mission to increase and encourage improvement of the built environment of Greater Cincinnati. Strange is chairman of Messer Inc., the parent company of locally-headquartered and employee-owned Messer Construction Co. where he formerly served as president and chief executive officer for 20 years. Throughout his 40-year tenure with Messer, Strange has been one of the community’s most active and steadfast advocates for the arts, education, workforce development and innovation.
During the past two decades, under employee-ownership and Pete Strange’s leadership, Messer’s revenue has grown from $100 million to a projected $750 million in revenue for 2012. Since employees purchased the company in 1990, Messer has experienced significant financial and geographical growth, due in part largely to their S corporation ESOP structure. Messer’s employee-owners, , share in the success of the company and are motivated to work hard because the company culture is one that focuses on building long-term value and growth and positively impacting the communities in which they are based. The result is a culture of ownership in which each employee-owner is equally invested, both personally and financially.
“The growth and success that Messer has maintained since becoming employee-owned directly shows the benefit of having employees invested in their company, while also providing workers with meaningful retirement security,” said Greg Klein, chairman of the board of directors of the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America. “We congratulate Pete for receiving this honor and are confident that we will see many more decades of accomplishments, as Messer is a prime example of what S corporation ESOP companies can do economically and socially in their local communities”
The gala event raised funds to support Architecture by Children, a school-based architecture education program serving more than 1,400 students ages 7 – 18 in Greater Cincinnati.
Messer Inc. (www.messer.com) is the parent company of Messer Construction Co., a construction manager and general contractor founded in 1932. Over the years Messer has built a premier reputation through outstanding construction experiences and value with a focus on health care, life sciences and higher education. An employee-owned company, Messer ranks nationally as one of the Top 100 largest contractors as well as a Top 40 green contractor. In fiscal 2011, Messer put in place more than $560 million in commercial construction. The company works towards sustaining itself as a true corporate citizenship leader in each of its regions. Their offices have grown from one to nine, and include Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lexington, Louisville, Knoxville, and Nashville. The combination of employee ownership, long-term planning, investment in process improvement and our people has resulted in consistent, metered and sustainable growth… and ensures future generations of Messer builders.
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The Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (“ESCA”) is the Washington, DC voice for employee-owned S corporations. ESCA’s exclusive mission is to preserve and protect S corporation ESOPs and the benefits they provide to the employees who own them. These companies have an important story to tell policymakers about the tremendous success of the S ESOP structure in generating long-term retirement savings for working Americans and their families. ESCA provides the vehicle and the voice for these efforts. ESCA represents employee-owners in every state in the nation.