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A CLIENT PROFILE Just over four years ago, partner Clancy Houghton in our San Francisco office received a phone call that was to involve Haskins & Sells in the birth and growth of a giant in the pollution control industry. Bob Kwong, Envirotech's senior vice president and treasurer recently reflected back on that phone call. 1 n just a few months we had to arrange for capitalization of the company with $20 million in stock, plus long term debt, a line of credit big enough to give us room to grow, rights to pollution control technology, and acquisition of one, hopefully two, established companies in the water pollution control field. It was obvious that we needed more than just routine audit help. 'Clancy had run the audit when I was at U.S. Leasing',' Bob recalls. "I knew he could do the job. I told him what we needed and within a few days he was hard at work helping us make it happen'.' The audit now involves 24 H&S offices including 12 overseas. It shows how doing a job well can payoff in unexpected ways. The formation of Envirotech as a large, integrated company was no accident. For many years the manufacturing of pollution control equipment had been a fractionated i nd ustry. To meet the demand they felt sure was coming, Envirotech's founders knew there was a need to bring together established companies which manufactured specialized equipment and systems for environmental management and to consolidate their engineering, manufacturing and marketing capabilities. In responding to this need, our client, Envirotech, has become the Cinderella company in the field of environmental control. In four years annual sales have grown from less than $60 million to $175 million, giving the company a prominent place on the Fortune magazine directory of the country's top 1,000 U.S. industrial corporations. Prime movers behind the formation were Robert L. Chambers, Berne A. Schepman and Robert R. Kwong—all with extraordinary track records in the business world. Robert L. Chambers, chairman of the board and chief executive officer was one of three founders of the Magna Power Tool Company in 1947. He became president of several other companies and, eventually, a vice president of ENVIROTECH combining the elements needed for an integrated approach to the interrelated problems of environmental protection. Bangor Punta Corporation until the end of 1967, when he resigned from all operating responsibilities to begin work on the formation of Envirotech. Berne A. Schepman originally joined Eimco Corporation, one of the companies Envirotech first acquired, as a research engineer, becoming president in 1964 and then president and chief operating officer of Envirotech in 1969. Robert R. Kwong was vice president and treasurer with a San Francisco client, United States Leasing Corporation, and with Pacific Vegetable Oil Corporation. He arranged Envirotech's initial borrowing during the credit crunch of 1969, becoming vice president and treasurer of the company when it was founded and senior vice president in December of 1969. Another of the close ties H&S has had with Envirotech almost since its inception is through former San Francisco office senior accountant Cass P. Apple. He is the son of the late H&S partner Casper B. Apple who Keeping tabs. Robert L. Chambers, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Envirotech Corporation [t. J shows H&S partner Chuck Schwinn the automatic monitoring system in use at the Palo Alto water quality control plant. Waste disposal. A settling pond and a beaker of sterile ash depict the beginning and end of a secondary sewage treatment operation for the City of San Mateo. 18
Object Description
Title |
Client profile: Envirotech |
Author |
Anonymous |
Contributor |
Stevens, Roy |
Subject |
Envirotech |
Personal Name |
Chambers, Robert L. Schwinn, Chuck Kwong, Robert R. Apple, Casper B. Kline, John Houghton, Clarence W. Schepman, Berne A. |
Portrait |
Chambers, Robert L. Schwinn, Chuck Kwong, Robert R. Apple, Casper B. Kline, John |
Office/Department |
Haskins & Sells. San Francisco Office |
Citation |
H&S Reports, Vol. 10, (1973 autumn), p. 18-21 |
Date-Issued | 1973 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Rights | Copyright and permission to republish held by: Deloitte; Photographs by Roy Stevens |
Type | Text |
Format | PDF page image with corrected OCR scanned at 400 dpi |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2010 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | HSReports_1973_Autumn-p18-21 |