"Local Entrepreneurs" - May 2018 Monthly Meeting

Timothy Gibbons is editor in chief of the Jacksonville Business Journal, overseeing a staff of reporters and visual journalists who serve as the premier source of business news throughout Northeast Florida.

He came to the Business Journal in 2013 after serving as business editor of the Florida Times-Union, a newspaper where he worked for more than a decade covering Jacksonville’s consolidated city/county government, military affairs and international trade and transportation.

Prior to joining the Times-Union, he was an editor at a bilingual magazine in Hamburg, Germany. He has reported and edited at newspapers in Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as freelancing for newspapers and magazines in the United States and Europe.

A native of Pennsylvania, he has a master’s degree from Columbia University. He lives with his wife and son in Jacksonville’s Springfield neighborhood, sharing the property with bees, chickens and a dog.

Title

• Member Danese Piping, LLC, Mechanical Contractors, Jacksonville, FL.  2011-2013
• Member AEGIS Fire and Integrated Services, LLC, Orange Park, FL.  2009-Present
• Member AEGIS Fire Protection Systems, LLC, Orange Park, FL.  2009-Present
• At-large business growth consultant for finance, administration, technology and marketing

1986-2008

Gulf Atlantic Equipment Company, Florida and Georgia

 President / Chief Technology Officer

• Founded start-up company with strong technical application, service and aftermarket department emphasis. Leading company in the SE USA marketplace.
• Air systems designer and auditor. Achieved DOE Air Master Plus level certification in 2005.
•  Sold to Atlas Copco Compressors Inc., a global multinational company in 2008.  Personal five year agreement precluded market reentry until 2013.

1984-1986 

The Wittemann Company,  Palm Coast, FL

Director of Marketing for Process and Recovery Gas Systems

• Successful global introduction of energy efficient MEA off-gas recovery system
• Company purchased by Cryogenic Industries

1979-1984      

The Scott Industrial Systems, Inc. ,  Dayton, OH

Systems Sales Manager

• Analyzed and applied energy efficient pneumatic and hydraulic components and systems
• Hired and trained competent sales team

1973–1979    

 JOY Manufacturing Co     Pittsburgh, PA

Senior  Field Engineer

• 12 months in-plant mechanical application training for compressors and drive systems
• Five years field application of compressor and air treatment  systems

• 1977-1979   University of Dayton-M.B.A. ( Non - Degreed)
• 1966-1970  Case Western Reserve University   Cleveland, OH ( Degreed )

Christopher K. Black is currently the President and principal owner in Sunoptic Technologies, LLC. A global medical device company that specializes in fiber optics, lighting and visualization products for hospital operating rooms and outpatient clinics. The business was acquired in 1999 and now has 75 employees with two global distribution networks and a significant OEM business. Prior to Sunoptic he spent 5 years in the Air Force, attended Temple UV., and then work at Teleflex Inc. (NYE) for 17 years. While at Teleflex he began his career in field sales and progress to regional and then general management position for North and South America. During his last six years with the company he was appointed Vice President of Business Development mergers and acquisitions. While at Teleflex the Medical Division grew from a few million to over one billion dollars.

Ken Maszy founded and served as President of Atlantic Quality Parts in Jacksonville, FL in 1998. Atlantic is an independent distributor of aftermarket tractor parts supplying agricultural dealers and distributors worldwide. In 2012, after nine consecutive years on the Jacksonville Business Journal’s “50 Fastest Growing” companies list, Ken sold Atlantic to Arrowhead Electrical Products, a global distributor of components for the mobile equipment marketplace. During that time, Arrowhead was a portfolio company of Pfingsten Partners, a Chicago based private equity firm. Atlantic continues to operate under the Atlantic Quality Parts name and retained its employees. Partnering with Arrowhead enabled Atlantic to increase their distribution footprint and capture opportunities in under-penetrated domestic markets. Ken continued to serve as President of Atlantic until 2015.

In 2017, Ken founded Zenpura Pest Solutions and is currently building the company from the ground up as well as concurrently starting another company, Seaworx Fishing, to capitalize on his sales, distribution, and product development experience. Ken also serves on the Board of Operation New Uniform, a Jacksonville non-profit that equips veterans with the skills they need to succeed in business following their military service.

Ken, along with his wife Mary, has a son in college and a stepdaughter who resides in Jacksonville. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Florida in 1994.