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