It is with pleasure and great honor that we announce that H. Steve Swink, Ph.D. has joined the Board of Director of Directors of the John S. Mulholland Family Foundation.
Dr. Swink is a native of Calhoun City, Mississippi. His fondest memories before graduating from Calhoun City High School was seeing Elvis sing on the back of a flat bed truck at the Tupelo State Fair in 1956. One other youth highlight was his attainment of Eagle Scout in 1959. He received his Bachelors Degree in Accounting and a Masters Degree in Business from Mississippi State University. Swink later earned his Ph.D. from the Georgia State University School of Business, before teaching at Towers High School in DeKalb County, Georgia and accounting at both DeKalb College (awarded Teacher of the Year in 1972) and Georgia State University. Anyone who has heard Dr. Swink speak, motivate and challenge in his smooth Mississippi drawl can only imagine what a wonderful experience those students had during his ten years in the classroom.
Steve then made the life changing decision to move to Washington, D.C., where he purchased an interest in, and helped run, a fledgling coffee service company called Coffee Butler Service, taking the company from $1.5 Million to $21 Million in annual sales, before selling to U.S. Office Products, where he continued on for several years, purchasing 23 more beverage companies over a three year period.
We worked together on the Boards of Directors of the American Heart Association, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, American Cancer Society and the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as Chairman. During our time on the Chamber, Steve served as Membership Chair and I served as Program Chair and together we doubled Chamber membership. In 1992, the Chamber honored Steve and myself as Member of the Year, and Citizen of the Year, respectively.Swink then moved to Florida, opening UniCapital , a leasing rollup and then to Long Island as President and CEO of DMS, Inc., a courier company operating in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
A brief retirement left Steve bored, so he joined the Lake Group, a consulting firm in Manhattan, which had, among many others, two clients manufacturing automobile lifts in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Joshua, Texas. There he met Li YiMing, a Chinese exporter who sold components to automobile lift manufacturers in the United States. On a handshake deal with his new friend, he started Tuxedo Distributors (tuxedodistributors.com), now the second largest automotive repair equipment supplier in the United States, with $55 Million in annual sales this year and a five year projection to $75 Million. During his 19 years ownership of Tuxedo, he has had three presidents – all of them women. And, in not surprising Swink fashion, he gives all the credit for the company’s success to his employees, to whom he has now sold the company in an ESOP transaction on December 23, 2022. He said, “the employees built the company; they deserve to own it”.
I have met hundreds of successful business people over the course of my career; some of them have become mentors, many of them friends. Steve Swink is both. He is to me, a genius, from whom I have learned a great deal. Since the founding of JSM, Steve has shown great interest in our mission, following us on social media and our website, and offering comments, suggestions and undeserved praise. In 2022, he was one of our top three donors.
As we begin our 10th Anniversary Year, we are honored and privileged that Dr. Swink has accepted our invitation to join the Board of Directors. His experience, wisdom and vision will serve us well as we meet whatever challenges the next ten years may bring.
Steve and his beautiful wife, Marg, call Bozeman, Montana home these days, to be near to children and grandchildren, but are extensive world travelers, having visited over 70 countries and especially to warm locales during Montana winters. We will not be surprised to see the ubiquitous Dr. Swink show up unannounced at one of our pantries, exhibiting his usual charm, wit, and sage advice.