'True American Spirit'

'True American Spirit'

COMPANIES by Janet Leiser | Senior Editor

Wes Hiller was a director for Lee Iacocca at Ford Motor Co. in the 1960s. He staved off a unionization effort at his Kentucky coal mines in the early 1980s. And today, at 73, he's globally expanding the carbon trading division of the family-run energy products firm he founded 31 years ago.

"Without dad, we wouldn't be here," his son, Martin Hiller, 46, says from his second-floor office at The Hiller Group headquarters on Memorial Highway in west Tampa. "He is an implementer of new projects, new ideas, and he continues to move the business ahead."

Martin Hiller, CEO of Hiller Group, downplays the fast growth he has overseen since he took over from his father in 2000, crediting a myriad of industry factors. Between 2002 and 2005, revenue increased 218%, from $34.1 million to $108.5 million. This year, the firm, one of the fastest growing in Florida, expects to hit $130 million.

Passing the $100 million mark was always a goal of Wes Hiller's.

The firm has 27 employees. It wholesales aviation fuel to more than 400 fixed-base operators at airports across the United States and it brokers carbon materials to foundries and steel mills around the world. It has three carbon processing plants, two in Texas and one in South Carolina.

Both the carbon and aviation fuel markets are fast growing. Martin Hiller says the private aviation market, with the advent of the light jet market, is expected to double by 2015, and global demand for carbon, essential in the manufacturing of steel, continues to grow.

The firm is one of five national distributors of aviation fuel, Hiller says. It recently renewed its 20-year contract with ChevronTexaco Corp. for another 20 years.

"That glorified gas station for private aviation is growing and that segment is growing because the fractional ownerships have grown, the charter business is growing and the very light jet market provides a lot of opportunities," the CEO says.

Ford tough

For 17 years, Wes Hiller was in charge of buying raw materials, including coal, for Ford Motor Co. In 1970, he left Ford to join another company and traveled overseas for five years.

It's the knowledge he gained at Ford that led him to start his own firm to broker coal in 1975, he says. That's also why he became one of the largest independent coal miners in eastern Kentucky.

Coal mining, a capital-intensive business, was made more expensive for Hiller by an attempted unionization by the United Mine Workers of America, Wes Hiller says.

The company survived a strike. But in 1983, a year after Martin Hiller graduated from Tri-State University in Indiana and joined the company, the elder Hiller sold the mining operations to a subsidiary of Pacific Power & Light. Both Hillers stayed with PP&L for a couple years.

Then they started The Hiller Group, which they had moved to Tampa from Michigan in 1982. To diversify, they decided to get into the aviation fuel business and specialty carbon materials.

"In 1985, the oil companies preferred to deliver pipeline qualities of fuel to an airline," says Martin Hiller, "rather than worry about small amounts for the fixed base operators."

Father and son seized an opportunity. Hiller Group now sells fuel to businesses as far west as Texas and from Florida to Maine.

Hiller Group revenue is fairly well balanced between aviation fuel and carbon sales, Martin Hiller says. But the carbon processing plants require more capital investment.

"It's not an easy business model," he acknowledges.

The firm does much more than just provide fuel to the airports.

"Our partners rely on us for fuel," he says, "which is typically the lifeblood of their organizations. But they also rely on us to help them market themselves and to benefit from the growth of the two brands."

Hiller Group has a contract with an Atlanta advertising agency that does most of the work for its customers. Martin Hiller declined to discuss how much is spent annually on firm advertising or Hiller Group's profit margins.

Carbon products

The company buys carbon, found in all organic materials, from refineries around the world, processes it to customer specifications and delivers it.

At Hiller Group's Georgetown, S.C., operation, most of the petroleum coke is imported from Venezeula via ocean vessel, Wes Hiller says, adding: "We literally tie up all the Georgetown docks."

The company is the national recycler for Alcoa Aluminum, he says. "We found a way to recycle all of their carbon products that were scrap and formerly going to the landfill," Wes Hiller says.

The company plans to form similar deals with other aluminum companies.

"We're doing a lot of exploring," Wes Hiller says. "We're bringing in a lot of material from China. It's a very exciting time and a real growth model. The world's steel demand is just continuing to grow."

The Hillers also work with companies in countries such as India, Japan and Russia. Wes Hiller made many of those contacts in the 1990s, when he was part of U.S. trade missions with then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

In May, Wes Hiller's grandson, Wesley Hiller II, joined the company after graduating from the University of Tampa's entrepreneurship program. It's a day Wes Hiller has looked forward to for a long time.

"He'll be traveling with me and working closely to learn all aspects of the carbon business," Wes Hiller says. "It's a very complicated business and you must understand chemistry very well, you must understand steel operations and foundry operations."

Proudly, he says, "Hiller is an integral part of all the major steel mills in the United States."

The elder Hiller, officially declared the Kentucky Colonel and Okie by the Kentucky and Oklahoma state governments, has worked hard for more than three decades to make sure of that.

And he expects his son and grandson to continue the work when he's no longer here. The company's future, Wes Hiller says, depends on global expansion.

"This company is really all about teamwork," Wes Hiller says. "We have very, very good employees - tremendously loyal and dedicated employees. They enjoy working here. We like to think they're all under our family veil, which is the true American spirit and something that I foster, something my son fosters and hopefully generation after generation will foster."

CEO TIPS

Martin Hiller's TIps on running a company:

• Personality and attitude are critical success factors in any organization.

• Understand and protect corporate culture. We work very hard to maintain our focus on a strong work ethic while still providing a fun atmosphere.

• Celebrate success and learn from setbacks. Always be honest with your assessments and avoid blaming outside factors. 

AT A GLANCE

The Hiller Group

Year Revenue % CHG.

2002 $34.1 million -

2003 $54.6 million 60%

2004 $79.6 million 45% 2005 $108.5 million 36%

2006 $130 million* 20%

Average Annual Growth Rate: 40%

*Projected