January 19, 2006

 

YSI named business of year

By Lauren Heaton

Susan Miller, left, Rick Omlor and Lisa Abel of YSI Incorporated. The company was named business of the year by the Chamber of Commerce.

In recognition of the commitment YSI Incorporated has shown to the community throughout its 57-year history, the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce named the company business of the year at its annual meeting last Thursday.

Rick Omlor, the president and CEO of YSI, accepted the award, along with employees Susan Miller and Jean Hankison, and Malte Von Matthiessen, a YSI board member and former president and CEO of the company.

YSI was nominated by the Chamber’s executive committee members, who felt that YSI’s behavior over the last decade “fit a pattern of commitment” to the village, said Don Hollister, whose term as acting president of the Chamber’s board of trustees ended last week.

“YSI has been a good corporate citizen who seems committed to Yellow Springs,” Hollister said. “This is an effort to publicly recognize business people who do good in the community.”

Hairston Chamber volunteer of the year

The Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce named Betty Hairston as its volunteer of the year.

\ Hairston has been the Chamber’s bookkeeper for over a decade, and she helped provide continuity to the chamber through the many changes that have occurred since its director, Betsy Newman left last spring.

“Any bookkeeper is sort of the key to the operation, and this past year especially, Betty has been very dependable,” said Don Hollister, whose term as acting president of the Chamber’s board of trustees ended last week.

“Anyone else outside of the accounting world would think of the job as invisible, but we might really have gotten in trouble if she hadn’t stayed on,” he said.

Ten years ago, while the $68 million company was establishing satellites across the U.S. and in England, China and Japan, its leaders chose to add a new building to its Brannum Lane facilities and start using Village utilities, Hollister said.

YSI also supports local organizations directly through the YSI Foundation, which in 2004 gave $5,000 to WYSO, the Yellow Springs Men’s Group, the Yellow Springs Riding Center and the Yellow Springs Senior Citizens, Inc., according to the company’s 2004 “Sustainability Report.” And, according to Omlor, YSI recently committed $150,000 toward the new facility for Antioch University McGregor, which will be constructed this year in the Center for Business and Education.

Many of the company’s employees have also been involved in recent efforts to plan for growth in the village and have been active with Community Resources, the Yellow Springs Community Foundation and the Community Round Table, said Lisa Abel, director of corporate social responsibility at YSI. Miller has also volunteered for the Chamber and provided copying and other services to promote the organization.

In addition, according to Hollister, YSI has led a conscientious effort to remediate the chemical contamination on its property and cooperate with the community to resolve the matter. Dawn Falleur, a Green Environmental Coalition representative on the community oversight committee, said that YSI has been “very open and cooperative” in responding to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s order in 2002 to remove contaminants from the Brannum Lane property.

“In the length of time it’s taken, there’s never been a break in cooperation between YSI and the GEC,” Falleur said. “It’s been very aboveboard and very sustained.”

Since Antioch College graduate Hardy Trolander founded YSI in 1948, the Yellow Springs community has been “a significant piece of the system, and it is still one of our core values,” Omlor said. In a company that operates globally, the philosophy of being responsible to the local community resonates with the employees, Omlor said, and encourages them to want to connect and give back to the area where they work.

There is a tradition in Yellow Springs, begun by Sergius Vernet and Trolander, that service to the community was expected and therefore should not be recognized as extraordinary, Hollister said. But he believes that people do like to be recognized for the good they do, and he urged the community to continue to honor its leaders through the Chamber or other venues.

“You can be a good business person, be ethical and responsible, and still not pay attention to the social dynamics of the town and not serve,” Hollister said. “Being a good business citizen is another dimension. It’s asking what impact is this going to have on the town and its citizens.”

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com

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