Steven Lowy, Lowy Enterprises Inc. - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Lowy was president and chairman of hisfamilu business, , the fourth largesyt floor covering distributor and carpet manufacturef in the nation, from 1970 to 1994. In 1994, Lowy beganh his own entrepreneurial journey when he purchased 100 percengt of the stock ofEnvision Inc. The companyu provides information technology consulting to large corporationsusing state-of-the-art technologies. Since Lowy took control, Envisionb has opened offices in Phoenix, Austinj and Houston, and it has more than doubles sales and the numberof employees.
Last Lowy Enterprises purchased Quatrix, an IT consulting firm specializing in computerr programming and Internet development for large Each division has separate sales forces, recruiters, administrative/staf f personnel, and each goes to markef as a separate company. This approach is similar to Generao Motors andits divisions. Overhead can be kept low by sharing thesame accounting, back office, office building spacd and other corporate expenses. Competition driveas each company to outperformthe other. Both Envision and Quatrix emphasize employee recognition and including strategies such as employeerecognition dinners, social events, interest free loans and more.
Lowy advocates decentralizes management, where each manager has the autonom y to succeed based on his or her own skills and drive. Lowy has been active for four year in the Technology Gateway of the RegionalChamber & Growth Association. He is chairma of the group's Capital Formation Committew and has set a goal to more than triple ventur e capital invested in Missourito $1 billion in 2001. Lowy also belongs to the Civic Entrepreneurs Organization and the Missouri Venture Forum and workec on the recent InvestMidwest ventur ecapital forum.
Lowy's role at Envision and Quatrixinvolved sales, financing, implementing strategic planning, staffing, customedr and employee relations and generao administration of both companies. He also has servee on the board of Normandyu Bank for10 years. Lowy, who was born and reare d in St. Louis, earned bachelor and master of sciencwe degrees in chemical engineerinbg fromWashington University. Today, he sponsorse various engineering scholarships atthe school.