2012 Irish Small Biz 50 Nominees, G-I
Name: Gentle Giant
Business: Removals and storage
Website: www.gentlegiant.com
First Establish: 1980
Employees: 350
Gentle Giant Moving Company, Inc. is a national moving company based in Somerville, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1980 by Larry O’Toole. In its almost 30-year existence, it has expanded from a single truck business in Massachusetts to opening offices across the United States, including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Washington state, and its newest office in San Francisco, California under the name Great Giant. The company won the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award in 2002. On July 1, 2008, Gentle Giant announced its further expansion by purchasing the Seattle-based residential moving company TempStore Moving Company.
Name: A.J. Gerritson
Age: 35
Place of birth: Weymouth, MA
Business: 451 Marketing
First established: 2004
Employees: 30
Website: www.451marketing.com
Where you live: Hull, MA
First job: Shoveling snow for money (I was 10)
What it taught me: If you are motivated, likeable, offer something that people need, and not afraid or hard work, you can be very successful in life.
Family: Married to Meaghan Gerritson, and have a son named Jack.
Best advice anyone ever gave you: Always treat every person with respect unless the give you a reason to treat them otherwise.
Best advice you could give someone starting out: Making mistakes is not the end of the world when you are starting out. Just don’t make it a habit. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.
The most important thing for a business success is: Drive and determination.
451 Marketing is an award-winning communications agency that specializes in public relations, social media marketing, and search marketing for consumer brands. Based in Boston, our 30 person agency works with companies to build awareness, engage customers, create fan loyalty, and drive business and sponsorship through a cutting-edge integrated communications approach. For the second consecutive year, 451 Marketing is proud to be honored as a 2012 Boston Business Journal Pacesetter-an award recognizing the 50 fastest growing private companies in Massachusetts.
Name: Terry Greenan
Business: Greenan Business Products
Established: 1971
Employees: 15
Website: www.Greenan.com
Terry Greenan, born in Boyle, Co. Roscommon and immigrated to the United States in 1960. He proudly served in the United States Army from 1961 to 1964.
In 1967, Terry married Margie Murray from Co Leitrim. In 1975, Terry and Margie moved to Carmel in Putnam County NY to start a family.
In Carmel, Terry was one of the founding members of the West—Put Gaels Football Club; he served as Vice President from 1976 to 1978. In 1983, Terry and Margie moved to West Nyack in Rockland County NY with five children in tow.
It was there that Terry served as President of the Rockland GAA, became a member of both the Friendly Sons of St Patrick and the AOH Div III of Pearl River. Terry has been honored for his notable volunteering and leadership with the Business Man of the Year award at the AOH Rockland County Emerald Ball in 1998 and as 2009 Grand Marshall of the Pearl River St. Patrick’s Day parade.
When Terry is not giving his time to associations he admires or spending time with his 8 grandchildren, he is running GREENAN Business Products, a company founded back in 1971. Since it’s early days the company has grown to become one of the premier independent dealerships in the New York area. The Greeenan team includes 15 hard-working and dedicated professionals. The Greenan offices are located in Rockland and Manhattan. As with his volunteer work, Terry runs a successful shop and its prestige within the tri-state area makes Greenan one of the largest
independent dealers for Xerox, Canon, Brother and HP for copiers, printers, scanners, wide format printers, faxes and multifunctional devices.
In 2004, Greenan acquired ECCO Business Systems and with that momentum has continued to grow as a reputable, committed company. With that acquisition Greenan gained strong talent and extended their capabilities to offer shredders, paper cutters, folders and bindery equipment to their customer base. Greenan is now a multi-million dollar company.
Greenan is dedicated to serving local clients and being a top New York company. The team focus is building relationships and providing top service to customers. This local approach has converted nationally with the addition on online sales. Greenan’s website, www.Greenan.com has spread the word on the teams’ expertise and solid work ethic.
Name: James F. Haggerty
Age: 46
Place of birth: Brooklyn, NY
Business: PRCG/Strategic Communications
First established: 1999
Employees: 6
Website: www.prcg.com
Where you live: Staten Island
First job: Special Assistant to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
What it taught me: That there is no substitute for independent thought.
Family: Elyse DeMayo, Wife, Liam Haggerty, son (10 years old), Conall Haggerty (6 years old). Mother: Mary McGrory, from Moville, County Donegal (died 2006). Father: William J. Haggerty, whose parents were from Kilcar, County Donegal (died March 6, 2012).
Best advice anyone ever gave you: My father, who died recently, gave me three pieces of advice that will remain with me forever: (1) if everyone put their problems in the center of a room, you’d want yours back; and (2) without a degree, you have to prove you’re smart; with a degree, they have to prove you’re dumb; and (3) it’s not how hard they hit you that matters, but how quickly you get up.
Best advice you could give someone starting out: Really care about being the best at everything you do; be relentless and obsessive about it. Do the things you don’t like to do as well as the things you like to do. And no task is beneath you if it leads to success: don’t let ego stand in the way.
The most important thing for a business success is: The way to stay in business is to go to bed each night thinking you’re going out of business.
James F. (“Jim”) Haggerty is a nationally known attorney, writer and communications consultant. Jim has a broad background counseling corporate, nonprofit and individual clients on all manner of reputation management issues. In the area of litigation and other complex crisis communications matters, Jim is considered one of the foremost experts in the world. Over the years, he has been involved in numerous high-profile legal disputes – including some of the largest cases of their kind in history. Jim is the author of “In The Court Of Public Opinion: Winning Strategies for Litigation Communications” (ABA Publishing, 2009). Now in its second edition, In The Court Of Public Opinion is a groundbreaking look at the use of communications and public opinion strategies during lawsuits. Financial Times called In The Court of Public Opinion “…the perfect handbook for this age…” and the book was also positively featured in publications like The Boston Herald, The New York Law Journal, American Lawyer, the Washington Post and PR Week. Jim also writes an “In The Court of Public Opinion” column for American Lawyer’s Corporate Counsel magazine, and hosts a weekly “In The Court of Public Opinion” radio show on the VoiceAmerica Radio Network. Jim’s column was selected in 2012 as a finalist for a Neal Award, considered business-to-business journalism’s most prestigious honor. In addition to his legal and crisis communications work, Jim is also well known for his work on environmental and “green” business issues. He serves as a principal professional consultant to the Hugo Neu Corporation, which owns and manages innovative recycling, real estate and cleantech businesses. Jim holds a B.A. in Political Science and English Literature and Rhetoric from Binghamton University, and studied Law at Fordham and Stetson. He is admitted to practice Law in New York and Florida.