CBJ's Largest Privately Held Companies 2018

Modern Companies
KEN BROWN
CEO
11
Modern Companies has evolved and expanded
across the region over the past seven
decades as mergers and acquisitions have
reshaped the firm, from its start as Modern
Refrigeration in 1939 to Modern & Puth to
Modern Piping in the 1960s. But it wasn’t until
the turn of the 21st century that things really started to heat
up for the company, according to CEO Ken Brown.
“The early 2000s was really the beginning of our growth and
expansion with the development
of the Dubuque market
and our entrance into the
Minneapolis market when we
were selected for a large biopharmaceutical
project, the
largest of its kind at the time,”
Mr. Brown said. “This is really
the beginning of the culture
of the company where we
look for opportunities that
fit our skillsets. We have been
expanding into different services
and markets based on
client requests, market conditions
and new technologies
for more than a decade.”
Today, the Cedar Rapids-based
fabricator counts
336 employees, including dozens stationed at offices in Des
Moines, the Quad Cities, Dubuque, Minneapolis and Oklahoma
City. Those outlying markets have helped fuel the company’s
recent expansion, with revenues growing by more than
300 percent in Modern’s Des Moines office in 2017 alone,
and Oklahoma City’s Mid-Continent Group – in which Modern
Companies is a minority investor – seeing “tremendous
growth” and contracts on specialty projects as far away as
South Korea, Mr. Brown said.
Modern Companies most recently acquired the service division
assets of Johnson Contracting Co. in Moline, Illinois,
giving it a better foothold in the western Illinois market.
“The strategic acquisition allows us to better serve our current
customers in the Quad Cities and increases our number of
service technicians from 18 to 31, including Des Moines operations,”
Mr. Brown said. “The Quad Cities is a larger market than
Cedar Rapids, and we feel that it is underserved in our space.”
Two of Modern’s newest divisions – Modern Compressed
Air (MCA) and Modern Control Services (MCS) – are growing,
too, Mr. Brown said.
Modern Compressed Air supplies aluminum tubing and fittings
for compressed air and inert gas distribution in addition
to air compressors, dryers, hose reels and accessories. MCA
also represents Powerex medical gas components for use in any
medical gas delivery system.
Modern Control Services represents building automation
and analytics solutions from Siemens, Delta and CopperTree
Analytics, in addition to building entry control and lighting
control solutions, Mr. Brown said.
The company is also pushing to develop its own technologies
in the competitive construction industry. It last year launched
FabPro LLC, a software
company that has
developed “the only
solution for fabrication
shop productivity
tracking in the construction
industry” and
has other products under
development, Mr.
Brown noted.
The company’s
wide range of construction
expertise
and technologies has
earned it a role in a
number of high-profile
Corridor projects,
including the University
of Iowa’s Stead
THE TEAM
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Ken Brown, CEO
Dave Brown, Director
Matt Huber, CFO
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ken Brown
Dave Brown
Kristin White
SUPPORT TEAM
F&M Bank
RSM US LLP
Simmons Perrine Moyer
Bergman PLC
Family Children’s
Hospital, the new Hancher Auditorium and the UI’s new
Visual Arts Building.
“Without the investments in virtual design construction
and our fabrication facility in Cedar Rapids, we could have not
completed these projects efficiently,” he said.
Strategic partnerships are set to be a focus for Modern Companies
in 2018, Mr. Brown said. The firm is working with other
“like-minded” partners in Des Moines and Minneapolis, and
plans to have agreements in place this year. It’s a logical evolution
for a company that has grown through relationships and
alignments with other firms, and is fighting hard to stay relevant
in a rapidly changing industry.
“I wouldn’t have thought five years ago we would be rounding
out our services, looking into other opportunities and developing
software,” he said. “The construction industry is moving
faster than ever before.”
- Jim Offner
26 CBJ’S LARGEST PRIVATELY HELD COMPANIES 2018