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Upsize on Tap: The scoop on M&A

Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.

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by Andrew Tellijohn
February 2006

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'Never quit' Father says

EDS founder lauds father for support in managing dyslexia

This past Thanksgiving included a tribute by Earl “Doc” Smith, president of EDS Consultants and Construction Managers Inc. in Lakeland.

At the family gathering, he read the winning nomination he wrote about his father, Lowery J. Smith, to enter the Upsize Lifeline Awards. “Coming from someone with dyslexia, ‘never quit’ was quite a remarkable thing for a father to impart to his dyslexic son,” the nomination says in part.

“Born during the Depression, my father was inspired to overcome many obstacles. His firm and caring hands have guided me to search for my passion and stick by my commitments in my personal and professional life.”

Smith says emotions ran high. “I had a hard time reading it in front of everybody.” And the result? “He gave me a big hug.”Smith says when he was in school, dyslexia and how to manage it was not well understood. His father’s encouragement helped him stick to his studies.

“Handicaps can benefit in other ways,” Smith says. “I’m a hard worker. I’ve always sat in the front of the classroom. I would compensate by listening hard and visualizing.”

Those abilities help him now at EDS, he says, which oversees design, construction and general contracting of commercial buildings.

“I can help clients visualize things,” he says. “We take the drawings and turn them into a Rembrandt, so the building fits the people.”

A civil engineer who worked for Honeywell for three years, he started EDS eight years ago. He’s proud of the St. Anthony library, for which his firm won a national award. EDS’s annual revenue ranges from $200,000 to $600,000, with the high end reached when they secure general contracting projects.

Smith says that as he was growing up, many methods were tried to help him learn. Few were effective. “They had me read through glasses, one lens with red glass and one with blue glass,” he says.

“They even had me thinking I didn’t crawl right,” and in middle school asked him to practice the right way to crawl. “It was trial and error.”

The constant was support from his father, a geologic engineer who works with Ag Lime Sales Inc. today.

Says Smith’s nomination: “We continue to move forward, in spite of competition from companies ten times our size. It’s our commitment. It’s our passion. It’s my gift from my Dad.”

Earl “Doc” Smith, EDS Consultants and Construction Managers Inc.: 651.436.2426; do*@************ts.com; www.edsconsultants.comLowery Smith, Ag Lime Sales Inc.: 651.644.8849

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