Article taken from
Battle Creek Enquirer
by
Stacy Hanna
August 9, 2005
ALBION—Jeff Mathie appears diminutive
standing in front of the deep-space antenna his company recently built for
NASA, a big coup for a guy who considers himself the owner of a relatively
small business. Mathie, 39, owns and operates Patriot Antenna Systems, a
Sheridan Township based company that manufactures a wide range of commercial
antennas—ranging in size from 60cm to 9 meters—for a wide range of clients
from the Nigerian government to various companies in Europe and the Middle
East.
Customers use the antennas for homeland security, emergency response and
broadcast and cable systems among other applications.
A 1988 graduate of Olivet College, Mathie is not an engineer or a rocket
scientist. Instead, he holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration
and insurance management and even ran a small insurance agency for a short
time in the early 1990’s.
Now he’s the mastermind behind a $15 million business whose sales are up 50
percent from last year and are on track to meet or beat that number again
this year.
“I guess we’re doing pretty well,” Mathie said. “We’ve gotten some good
contracts this year.”
He’s modest almost to a fault.
In 1992, Mathie took a job with a local antenna company but decided to
strike out on his own, founding Patriot in 1994 with three employees and a
$32,000 investment.
Eleven years and 120 employees later, that modesty has brought him great
success, but not much recognition.
“We’ve been here for quite a while, but we don’t really talk about
ourselves,” he said. “We’ve been pretty quiet in the community.”
Patriot has several U.S. customers—NASA, for example—but deals mostly with
international clients.
“Whatever the U.S buys seems to be the gold standard for the global
industry,” Mathie explained. “So what ever we sell in this country generally
does very well in the other countries.”
A married father of five, Mathie grew up in Concord and still is a loyal
area resident.
Since opening Patriot he has purchased eight antenna companies, bringing
their work and their employees to Sheridan Township. He said most of his raw
material suppliers are local as well.
“Part of that makes sense economically, but it’s important to support other
businesses in the area,” he said.
Mathie attributes his success to several factors, including his employees,
his management team and the foresight to diversify his line.
“We have a broad range of products and services, he said. “That way if one
market is down, another one is up. It keeps things even.”
Mathie enjoyed the fast track for a while, but said he was forced to slow
down in 1999 after he suffered debilitating injuries in a snowmobile
accident.
“I lost the use of my right arm,” Mathie said. “But the worst part has been
the terrible pain. It set me back a little—it’s been rough.”
Not one to complain, though, Mathie still works about 90 hours each week
developing products with the engineers, traveling to meet clients and even
tackling the small jobs.
“I was here with my boys last weekend,” he sad, pointing to one of the
warehouses in the 300,000-square foot facility. “We were cleaning up.”
Expanding the business doesn’t seem to be a problem for Mathie.
Patriot is set to ship the NASA antenna at the end of this month.
And in addition to other new business coming in, he said a possible contract
to build 1,200 more antennas for NASA might become a reality in 2006.
“If we got this contract—and we have a good chance of getting it—it would be
huge,” he said. “We’re talking about major expansion, 700 to 800 new jobs
here at this.”
Regardless of the outcome of the NASA contract, Mathie’s plans for the
future include more of the same. “Long term I think we’ll be a takeover
company,” he said. “Some day, way down the road, a larger company might want
to pick us up, but for now we’re looking to just grow the company and do
right by our customers.”
“If we ever do sell, it would have to be right for all of us,” he said.
“We’re a team.”
1.517.629.5990
704 N. Clark Street
Albion MI, 49224
info@sepatriot.com