Samuel R. Haines retired from his position as CFO of Gear Motions Inc., Syracuse, N.Y., following 44 years of service.
In 1973, Sam was in graduate school and in search of a thesis topic to complete his MBA at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. As fate would have it, his father was in need of a business plan for a bank loan for a small gear manufacturing company that he had acquired a few years earlier. Thus, as they say, was the trap set.
Following graduation and in the midst of the 1973 “oil recession,” Sam signed on (temporarily) to help work through the newly formed Gear Motions’ first acquisition of Oliver Gear in Buffalo, N.Y.
Still on “temporary assignment” in 1980, Sam and the family moved to Syracuse, and he assumed the management of the recently acquired Nixon Gear as VP/GM. Shortly thereafter, Sam was named president of Gear Motions in 1985 when his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In 2005, in anticipation of his eventual retirement, he began the sale of the company through the establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and became chairman and CFO. This created a 10-year financial plan for transferring 100% ownership of the company to its employees, assured that the company would remain at its current location and viable for many years to come, and created a phased financial transition for the owners.
INDUSTRY NEWS
