John A. Campau sometimes sounds more like a coach than the
president and chief executive officer of a growing telecommunication and
electronic security company.
But then, the former member of a state championship football
team knows a little about the importance of teamwork.
“I have a new-found appreciation for other people’s talents. I
appreciate the abilities and talents people who work here possess,” Campau
said.
“Our success rests on those abilities.”
Comtronics has established itself in the Jackson community the
past 42 years in the sales of burglar and fire alarms, business phone systems
and more recently found a market in home theater surround-sound systems and cell
phones.
Campau, 38, took over the company from his parents in 1994 and
has steadily increased the number of customers, employees and
revenue.
And others are taking notice of how well the company is
performing. In January, the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce presented Campau
with the 2001 Jackson County Small Business Person of the Year award. And on
Jan. 25, U.S. Congressman Nick Smith, R-Addison, had a flag flown over the
Capitol in Campau’s honor and later presented the flag to him at an awards
banquet.
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Citizen Patriot · Marcia Butterfield |
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John A. Campau, president and CEO of Comtronics, was honored as the
Jackson County Small Business Person of the Year 2001 by the Greater Jackson
Chamber of
Commerce. | |
Campau graduated in 1981 from Lumen Christi High School, where
he played defensive nose guard on the 1979 state championship football team. He
went on to the University of Michigan, where he earned a degree in business in
1985.
He joined Comtronics full time in 1986, became president of the
company in 1994 and in January 1999 Campau became co-founder and co-owner of
Walker Capital Corp., Comtronics’ parent company.
“I was born, grew up in business and became part of it,” Campau
said. “It was a natural decision. I also had the benefit of first-hand
exposure.”
In the past two years, Comtronics has added 27 workers, for a
total of 63 employees, more than doubled sales revenue, added Nextel to its
product line, and found nearly 1,000 new customers. Its service area has
expanded into eight states, including Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Florida,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
Within a year of becoming an authorized Nextel dealership,
Comtronics received that company’s highest honor by being named a Nextel Diamond
Dealer. For the past six months, Comtronics has been rated in the top 10 for
Nextel dealers in Michigan.
Campau also assisted Comtronics as they took on its largest
customer ever. In May of 1999, they signed a multimillion-dollar contract to
install 520 alarm systems for Citizens Bank in five states. In addition to
Citizens Bank, Comtronics services more than 5,000 customers.
Although Comtronics has grown, Campau still strives to improve
the company.
“We plan to expand our customer base into more states and stay
on the cutting edge of technology with new computers and software,” Campau
said.
“At this time. We feel we’re doing that.”
Reprinted with permission from The Jackson Citizen
Patriot
Copyright February 2001
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