Conversations
Greg Thompson, CEO of Thompson Industrial Services LLC, Thompson Construction Group Inc. and BioEnergy Technologies LLC
MidlandsBiz:
What is the Thompson family of companies?
Greg Thompson:
The Thompson family of companies has two main lines of business: industrial services and construction. In 2009, we were ranked 24th on the Grant Thornton list. Our home is Sumter, SC and we have regional offices throughout the state and the southeast.
MidlandsBiz:
How has the company grown over the years and what are your major lines of business?
Greg Thompson:
Thompson Construction Group, Inc. is our industrial construction company. Thompson Construction has done many construction projects throughout the region with companies in the steel, power, paper and pulp and pharmaceutical sectors. Within Thompson Construction Group, we also have Thompson Turner, general contractors. They have done projects such as the Metropolitan Columbia Convention Center, the new Carolina First Arena (College of Charleston) in Charleston, high schools such as AC Flora and Keenan and school construction in Beaufort County.
The other side of our business, Thompson Industrial Services, LLC is involved in an expanded version of our original core business, industrial cleaning. Four years ago, industrial cleaning was a healthy line of business for us, but we felt strongly that there was room for expansion. In order to make the necessary capital investments and strategic acquisitions, we took on an equity partner, BB&T Capital Partners. We recently bought a company in Memphis, Tennessee called Delta Service with a goal of expanding the Thompson brand west. As we look for other companies to acquire, we see good long term viability in this line of business. Today, industrial cleaning has grown significantly.
The company separation with focus on core business has allowed both companies to grow from three people in 1986 to 1,300 people between our two companies today.
MidlandsBiz:
Where were you born and raised?
Greg Thompson:
I was born right here in Sumter County and grew up working for my grandfather on the family farm and our family business. I attended USC Sumter for six weeks before dropping out to go and work full-time for my dad. At age 19, I took on a supervisor's role at one of my dad's industrial jobs in North Carolina and immediately fell in love with the business world, particularly sales. One of the great blessings that I have had in life is that I found my passion early on in life.
MidlandsBiz:
When and why did you start your own business?
Greg Thompson:
My father's business was industrial cleaning, mostly sandblasting, painting, and lubricants. I worked there from 1983 to 1986, but as with many entrepreneurs, I was frustrated with how the company was run and wanted to be my own boss. I walked in one day and told him I was quitting. As the only transportation that I had was a company truck, I literally left walking.
I called up my brother, Lewis, and told him that I was starting a new business called Thompson Industrial Services, a competing company to my dad's, and asked whether he wanted to join me. He agreed on condition that he first attend to harvesting the soybean crop at his farm (which was fine, since I didn't have any money to pay him with anyway). To this day, Lewis is still my business partner, along with Hal Turner and Marco Lardi. All are key parts of this organization.
MidlandsBiz:
What did you feel that you could do better?
Greg Thompson:
The differences with dad were mostly philosophical, but I had developed strong relationships with the customers by doing what I said I was going to do. I was fortunate that many of the customers that I had worked with did do business with me in my new venture, and that gave me the confidence to start building the company. Over twenty years later, that commitment to do right by the customer still guides every one of our decisions. Everything in business is based on relationships.
MidlandsBiz:
Why did you expand into construction?
Greg Thompson:
Opportunities to expand your business often come from your existing customers. In this case, one of our industrial services clients Ethyl Corporation out of Orangeburg (now Albemarle) approached us to see if would consider helping them with the construction of a new plant. We hired a terrific person out of Charleston to head up the operation, completed the job in a timely and effective manner, and decided to offer construction as one of our lines of business. Today we are engaged with helping our customers build power plants, paper mills, steel mills and chemical plants etc. across the Southeast and construction represents around 70% of our business.
MidlandsBiz:
How have you been affected by the recession?
Greg Thompson:
It has been the worst recession of my career. In 2009, our industrial cleaning, which has always been an accurate barometer for the economy, business was off 22% as many of our customers idled back to 40% of operating capacity. Typically though, this line of business is the first to respond to an upturn in the economy and we have seen that business is picking up. We remain cautiously optimistic in 2010.
As far as the construction side, there is also reason for optimism as our numbers are up slightly this year. That said, there are still many challenges. I can see some significant fallout and major consolidation in the construction/general contractor business in 2010 and 2011.
We have seen our competitors take jobs at prices we simply can't justify, and decided that we would rather stay at home than work on a project and lose money. We have been working through a backlog of contracts, but just recently, we have seen an increase in the number of jobs that are going to engineering, a good indicator the third and fourth quarter of 2010 and into 2011 will be busier.
MidlandsBiz:
You recently moved to downtown Sumter and are now located on Main Street.
Greg Thompson:
People who haven't been to Sumter in a while need to come and check us out; they will be pleasantly surprised. Our company's decision to move to Main Street is just one part of a long-term vision for downtown Sumter that includes building a boutique hotel across from the renovated Sumter Opera House. We already have a world class restaurant, Hamptons, of which my wife, Danielle, and I are investors. Our executive chef, Laurence Gottlieb, is extremely talented. Additionally, Danielle is taking an active role in Hamptons as well as in promoting downtown Sumter. People will be able to come to downtown Sumter, eat at a top notch restaurant, catch a great show, and stay in a classy hotel, all within one block. A top notch restaurant is a key component to any city's downtown development strategy. Business executives appreciate good food and wine.
Thompson bought three old buildings on Main Street, one of which we converted into our corporate headquarters, another across the street that houses the Hamptons restaurant and a third one on Main Street that we have renovated to include larger facilities for meetings etc. The City of Sumter did a fabulous job clearing up the rundown area behind Main Street to create well lit parking areas. Everybody is on board, the city, county, as well as private investors and we are confident that that this revitalization of Main Street will put Sumter on the map in a big way.
MidlandsBiz:
You are on the Development Board for Sumter. What challenges does Sumter face and where do its opportunities lay?
Greg Thompson:
Sumter has its roots as a farming community, and back in the 1970's and 80's, we developed into a significant, benchmark manufacturing hub. We were probably too slow to react to the new macroeconomic realities that were created under free trade and globalization, and industries such as our local furniture business simply disappeared overseas to China. We have seen a shift into more advanced, technical manufacturing at locations such as the Caterpillar plant that is located in Sumter County.
We are in the midst of strategic planning process for not just downtown Sumter, but also for the city and the county. Sumter is uniquely positioned to win – and win big – over the next decade. We are in a prime, central location in the state. We have a certified industrial park on I-95 and a mega site that we share with Lee, Williamsburg and Clarendon Counties. We have a strong relationship with Shaw Air Force Base and being located just 80 miles from Charleston, we are confident that we can leverage our strength in aeronautics to capitalize on the opportunity that has been created with the Boeing announcement.
The Development Board has a key strategic partner and provider of funds in the Sumter Smarter Growth Initiative (SSGI). Realizing that economic development is no longer a function solely of government, local business leaders have pledged over $1.5 M to ensure that Sumter can move forward with critical projects and marketing when government budgets are tight. We want to market Sumter to the world.
Industry has forever changed with this recession, but we are confident that Sumter will be a great, affordable destination for business going forward.
MidlandsBiz:
What leaders have you admired?
Greg Thompson:
Locally, Buster Plowden who owned and managed his own construction company, Plowden Construction, was always an inspiration to me. He was a great community leader who taught me the importance of hiring the right people if you want to scale up your business. A great leader knows that you can't wear all hats at all times. Admitting and identifying your own weaknesses is a tough thing to do for an entrepreneur, but it's the most important step that you take if you want to grow. We realized that along the way and were fortunate to bring in outside partners, Marco Lardi and Hal Turner. This was probably the biggest thing we have done to move the company forward.
MidlandsBiz:
How do you spend most of your time right now?
Greg Thompson:
I am mostly focused on developing our mission as a company and trying to make good decisions in a challenging economic environment.
MidlandsBiz:
What are some of your outside interests when you are not running the companies?
Greg Thompson:
We have three children; Pierce, age 13, who keeps us busy, and Lauren and Ryan, who attend Clemson University. I have become a huge Clemson fan, particularly college football. My wife, Danielle, and I also like good food and wine so the investment in the Hamptons restaurant is a good fit for us.
MidlandsBiz:
Talk about your new business BioEnergy Technologies, a move into alternative energy.
Greg Thompson:
There is a real buzz about energy these days as companies look to find solutions to this nation's energy problems. We simply have to find a way of reducing this country's dependence on foreign oil. We are working with the utilities to develop alternative energy that makes economic sense for South Carolina. I wanted to explore green alternatives that would be a good fit for South Carolina's energy strategy, a state that produces no coal or oil. The federal government has done a good job of creating appropriate incentives for entrepreneurs to get started in this capital intensive sector, so it's a good time to invest.
We started, BioEnergy Technologies in partnership with another company, SP4C and Austrian-based AAT Biogas, a company that has built over 128 successful biomass power plants over its 28 year history. It's a new line of business, but in many ways, a natural extension of what we do best – finding solutions that make sense for our customers. BioEnergy Technologies takes advantage of an old technology, but one that is relatively new to the United States: anaerobic digestion to produce electricity or to power vehicles.
MidlandsBiz:
Describe the process a bit further.
Greg Thompson:
The term biomass can mean several different things. There will be a new biomass plant in Newberry, SC that will use wood chips and construction debris to create power. That is NOT what we do. We take materials from food processing plants (fats, oils, greases) that would normally go into a landfill site, and co-digest them with manure and other high yield solids to create base load power. This "anaerobic digestion" is not unlike what happens naturally in the stomach of a dairy cow when it produces methane gas.
We are focusing on selling the energy to the utilities through PPAs (power purchase agreements). The end product of the anaerobic digestion cycle is a rich organic soil amendment that goes back into the earth, thus closing the loop on materials that would normally end up in a landfill. Just avoiding putting all this material in a landfill is a huge benefit to the environment.
The beautiful thing is that the resources that go into this energy system are in abundant supply in South Carolina. As well, there is an opportunity for South Carolina farmers to lead the way with energy crops such as switchgrass and sorghum that are produced specifically for energy and that do not compete with crops that are produced for human consumption.
MidlandsBiz:
What advice would you give to an entrepreneur?
Greg Thompson:
If you want to be successful, you need a lot of grit and determination. In the beginning, you might have to wear many hats but if you have an original vision that drives your day to day actions, you will be successful. The road map for your business may change along the way, but if you always take care of your customers you'll be able to grow in ways that you never dreamed possible.
VIDEO of Greg Thompson and Laurence Gottlieb talking about Hamptons restaurant
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