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fasteddie · 05-19-2006, 08:01 AM

William Ecker could be the only CEO in America who owes his job, in part, to a pet spaniel.

"Do you have a pet?" was a key question when he was being interviewed for the top job at Hartz Mountain Corp. Like all Hartz job candidates, Ecker had to prove he embodied the company's No. 1 "corporate value," posted on a large sign at the entrance to the Secaucus headquarters: "Be passionate about pets."

Ecker, who calls the family dog Emmie "one of the lights of my life," didn't have any trouble passing that test.

"If I didn't have a love of animals, I probably wouldn't have taken the first step to get involved with Hartz," said Ecker, who had two decades of experience working for human-products companies like General Foods, Unilever and Clairol before taking the top job at Hartz last month. He was chairman of Diam International, a manufacturer of retail displays, before being recruited by Hartz's parent company, Sumitomo Corporation of America.

Hartz has close to 900 employees in New Jersey, with corporate offices in Secaucus, a distribution center in Jersey City and a manufacturing plant in Bloomfield that produces more than 4 million pounds of fish food, 5 million flea collars and dozens of other products each year

As president and CEO of Hartz, Ecker, 49, has been given a mandate to grow the business by creating new products that will put more Hartz brands into pet specialty stores and upscale pet boutiques. He also is expected to position Hartz to become a global player, with sales in other countries that share America's fascination for pets.

The U.S. pet industry is booming, as the 69 million households that own pets are spending freely on the cats, dogs and other creatures that increasingly are considered part of the family.

Pet owners are expected to spend close to $39 billion on pet care and supplies this year, and that number is growing at a rate of about $2 billion a year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Traditional human-products companies like toy companies, food companies, and even clothing companies are looking at that rate of growth and jumping into the pet market with new products.

But Hartz, which averages $400 million in annual sales, has a big head start. It is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of pet foods, toys, shampoos, flea collars, and veterinary treatments in the country. It is credited by some pet industry historians with helping to trigger America's love affair with pets back in 1926, when immigrant Max Stern arrived from Germany, carrying 5,000 singing canaries from the Hartz Mountain region of his homeland. Stern sold the entire shipment to a New York City department store, and other department stores quickly placed orders, causing apartment dwellers throughout the city to become the proud owners of pet canaries.

Stern later began selling bird food and then branched into fish food, adding products to the point where the company now sells over 1,500 different items for pets ranging from reptiles to rodents.

Max Stern's son and grandsons invested in commercial property in the Secaucus area, and the Stern family eventually decided to focus its attention on real estate, rather than pet products. The family sold the pet care branch of Hartz to a private hedge fund in 2000. The hedge fund sold the company to Sumitomo in 2004.

But the company mantra has stayed the same: It's all about the pets.

At Hartz's offices in Secaucus, it's not unusual to see a cockatiel perched on an office chair, peering over a worker's shoulder as she types into a computer, or see an escaped Yorkie running down a corridor. Employees are encouraged to bring their pets to work and set up fish tanks and reptile cages in their workspaces. One worker has cages for two tarantulas, a mouse, and a gerbil ringing her cubicle.

New owner Sumitomo supports the pet-focused philosophy.

Sumitomo Corporation of America is the U.S. branch of a venerable Japanese conglomerate that began nearly four centuries ago as a family business in Osaka.

Ecker said he was attracted in large part because Sumitomo "very much believes in the business and wants to grow the business."

Sumitomo, he said, "has two things that distinguish them -- one is a bias for growth and the other is a very long-term perspective on businesses.

"Sumitomo is 400 years old, after all, and that makes Hartz seem like the new kid on the block," he said. "What you have is a perspective that says we're interested in doing the right things for the company, we're interested in driving growth, and we also understand that good things take time. That is kind of unique in the world of business."

One of Ecker's and Sumitomo's long-term goals will be to make Hartz more of a global pet care company, with sales outside of its current U.S. and Canadian market. But Ecker said that will come after he focuses on making sure the company is reaching all possible customers in this country.

Hartz already has a strong market share in the traditional places where pet products are sold -- grocery stores and in mass market stores like Wal-Mart, but would like to be poised to take advantage of the new pet sales venues that are opening up in upscale pet boutiques and New Age grocery stores like Whole Foods.

"There are opportunities for pet products almost everywhere that people are," Ecker said, "because people are thinking about their pets all the time."

The company also wants to develop new products for the specialty pet superstores, chains like Petco and Pet- Smart, that are attracting some of the most devoted pet lovers.

He's particularly enthusiastic about new Hartz products like foaming dog shampoo, rotating grooming brushes, and chew toys with microencapsulated flavor beads that release a fresh burst of peanut butter, liver, or other scent when a canine chomps down.

Bob Vetere, chief operating officer and managing director of the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association, said being part of Sumitomo gives Hartz the financial clout to make acquisitions and grow even larger. He said Ecker appears to be taking Hartz in the right direction in the short time he's been on the job. "I'm very impressed that he has a sense of what he needs to do and he seems to be somebody's who's going to be aggressive enough to do it," he said.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...d2cWVlRUV5eTI=

05-19-2006, 08:01 AM	#1
fasteddie *YT 6000 Club Member* Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 6,238	[News] Taking On a Pet Project William Ecker could be the only CEO in America who owes his job, in part, to a pet spaniel. "Do you have a pet?" was a key question when he was being interviewed for the top job at Hartz Mountain Corp. Like all Hartz job candidates, Ecker had to prove he embodied the company's No. 1 "corporate value," posted on a large sign at the entrance to the Secaucus headquarters: "Be passionate about pets." Ecker, who calls the family dog Emmie "one of the lights of my life," didn't have any trouble passing that test. "If I didn't have a love of animals, I probably wouldn't have taken the first step to get involved with Hartz," said Ecker, who had two decades of experience working for human-products companies like General Foods, Unilever and Clairol before taking the top job at Hartz last month. He was chairman of Diam International, a manufacturer of retail displays, before being recruited by Hartz's parent company, Sumitomo Corporation of America. Hartz has close to 900 employees in New Jersey, with corporate offices in Secaucus, a distribution center in Jersey City and a manufacturing plant in Bloomfield that produces more than 4 million pounds of fish food, 5 million flea collars and dozens of other products each year As president and CEO of Hartz, Ecker, 49, has been given a mandate to grow the business by creating new products that will put more Hartz brands into pet specialty stores and upscale pet boutiques. He also is expected to position Hartz to become a global player, with sales in other countries that share America's fascination for pets. The U.S. pet industry is booming, as the 69 million households that own pets are spending freely on the cats, dogs and other creatures that increasingly are considered part of the family. Pet owners are expected to spend close to $39 billion on pet care and supplies this year, and that number is growing at a rate of about $2 billion a year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Traditional human-products companies like toy companies, food companies, and even clothing companies are looking at that rate of growth and jumping into the pet market with new products. But Hartz, which averages $400 million in annual sales, has a big head start. It is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of pet foods, toys, shampoos, flea collars, and veterinary treatments in the country. It is credited by some pet industry historians with helping to trigger America's love affair with pets back in 1926, when immigrant Max Stern arrived from Germany, carrying 5,000 singing canaries from the Hartz Mountain region of his homeland. Stern sold the entire shipment to a New York City department store, and other department stores quickly placed orders, causing apartment dwellers throughout the city to become the proud owners of pet canaries. Stern later began selling bird food and then branched into fish food, adding products to the point where the company now sells over 1,500 different items for pets ranging from reptiles to rodents. Max Stern's son and grandsons invested in commercial property in the Secaucus area, and the Stern family eventually decided to focus its attention on real estate, rather than pet products. The family sold the pet care branch of Hartz to a private hedge fund in 2000. The hedge fund sold the company to Sumitomo in 2004. But the company mantra has stayed the same: It's all about the pets. At Hartz's offices in Secaucus, it's not unusual to see a cockatiel perched on an office chair, peering over a worker's shoulder as she types into a computer, or see an escaped Yorkie running down a corridor. Employees are encouraged to bring their pets to work and set up fish tanks and reptile cages in their workspaces. One worker has cages for two tarantulas, a mouse, and a gerbil ringing her cubicle. New owner Sumitomo supports the pet-focused philosophy. Sumitomo Corporation of America is the U.S. branch of a venerable Japanese conglomerate that began nearly four centuries ago as a family business in Osaka. Ecker said he was attracted in large part because Sumitomo "very much believes in the business and wants to grow the business." Sumitomo, he said, "has two things that distinguish them -- one is a bias for growth and the other is a very long-term perspective on businesses. "Sumitomo is 400 years old, after all, and that makes Hartz seem like the new kid on the block," he said. "What you have is a perspective that says we're interested in doing the right things for the company, we're interested in driving growth, and we also understand that good things take time. That is kind of unique in the world of business." One of Ecker's and Sumitomo's long-term goals will be to make Hartz more of a global pet care company, with sales outside of its current U.S. and Canadian market. But Ecker said that will come after he focuses on making sure the company is reaching all possible customers in this country. Hartz already has a strong market share in the traditional places where pet products are sold -- grocery stores and in mass market stores like Wal-Mart, but would like to be poised to take advantage of the new pet sales venues that are opening up in upscale pet boutiques and New Age grocery stores like Whole Foods. "There are opportunities for pet products almost everywhere that people are," Ecker said, "because people are thinking about their pets all the time." The company also wants to develop new products for the specialty pet superstores, chains like Petco and Pet- Smart, that are attracting some of the most devoted pet lovers. He's particularly enthusiastic about new Hartz products like foaming dog shampoo, rotating grooming brushes, and chew toys with microencapsulated flavor beads that release a fresh burst of peanut butter, liver, or other scent when a canine chomps down. Bob Vetere, chief operating officer and managing director of the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association, said being part of Sumitomo gives Hartz the financial clout to make acquisitions and grow even larger. He said Ecker appears to be taking Hartz in the right direction in the short time he's been on the job. "I'm very impressed that he has a sense of what he needs to do and he seems to be somebody's who's going to be aggressive enough to do it," he said. http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...d2cWVlRUV5eTI= __________________ YODA & WINKY R ::: RIP Winky ::: RIP Yoda!