Commercial Integrator August 2021 - 30

INDUSTRY Anniversary
working with Almo. It's like a family. "
" When Sam came to Almo it changed
our company. It truly did, " says Warren
Chaiken. " It took us to the next level... not
only from a revenue standpoint but more
importantly from a cultural standpoint and
who we became. We became a much more
sophisticated company. We became much
more creative and innovative. It really then
trickled through the entire company. "
" It's been a really good ride. I've really
enjoyed it and getting to know Warren
and Gene and their family, and becoming
part of the family, " says Taylor. " Now the
people that I brought over has grown to
167 people that are in Pro A/V. That family
has grown too.
" We started at zero and in 10 years we
were over half a billion dollars in revenue, "
he says. " As Gene and Warren say, it's all
about the people that make that happen. "
Looking Ahead at Almo
Almo plans to continue innovating and
growing rather than resting on its laurels
from an impressive 75-year history. The
COVID-19 pandemic over the past year was
especially eye-opening for the company.
" In the past year we went from a traditional
office environment to completely
virtual overnight. I'm so pleased and proud
that we were able to evolve into what we
are today which is a remote workforce
which has really thrived in this environment, "
says Warren Chaiken. " As we move
back into the office we understand that we
will be able to be a hybrid environment that
will be able to get the best of both worlds. "
Almo recently began converting factories to solar power (top). Almo pro AV celebrates its
ten-year anniversary (bottom).
One of the great benefits of being a
privately-owned company is that ability
to change dynamically without the need
for justification to stockholders and other
interested parties.
" We're much more long-term thinkers, "
says Gene Chaiken. " We're not worried
about whether an investment today is going
to hurt us at the next 90-day report. "
" You look at our competition that's
public and they just have different thoughts
and different ways to run their business, "
says Warren Chaiken. " With our business
and the way we want to run it, being public
wouldn't make sense. "
Almo employees work on their PAL backpack
donations.
30
The whole of Almo is certainly one that
adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
That's a result of the synergy between what
otherwise would be disparate divisions.
" One thing that's really interesting
about working for Almo is all the different
divisions we have. Just sharing best
practices, " says Craigmyle. " There's a lot
of collaboration that goes on. That's part
of that family atmosphere. There's always a
Commercial Integrator AUGUST 2021
healthy spirit of competition amongst the
business owners but it's that spirit of family
and sharing, and taking the best practices
and changing those for different audiences,
that's a lot of fun. "
That ability to work together and learn
from different business divisions has helped
Almo grow, and leadership at the company
believes that will continue to be the case
moving forward.
" We continue to evolve. We've gotten
into a lot of different products and categories
throughout the years in all our divisions.
A lot of it is just because of experiments, "
says Warren Chaiken. " We're a fairly cautious
company in that we're never going
to do anything that's going to damage the
company, but we're willing to try almost
anything as long as it's thoughtful and we
have a plan that makes sense. "
Having a plan has been the unifying
thread throughout the history of Almo. " It's
OK to dream. It's OK to have a goal, " says
Gene Chaiken. " If you don't have a plan it's
hard to get there. " CI
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Commercial Integrator August 2021

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