By Dean Orrico
Steve Bell and Jim Mischel enjoy a lot in common. They are both CEOs of successful and quickly-expanding manufacturing businesses of two hundred employees or more. Their families are involved in their companies in a big way and they make their employees feel like part of those families. They are both active members of C3 Leaders as part of their endeavor to make their faith in Jesus Christ matter in their workplace. And now they share one more thing in common: They were both recognized by a grateful city, through the Seattle Business Magazine’s Washington Manufacturing Awards 2014, for their businesses’ extraordinary and exemplary successes.
On April 24, 2014 at the Seattle Design Center, 280 members of the region’s manufacturing community looked on as Steve Bell of Bellmont Cabinet Company accepted the award for the Manufacturing Executive of the Year. At the same event, Jim Mischel’s company, Electric Mirror, was named Manufacturer of the Year. Even in accepting the awards, their similarities continued – both humbly deflected the accolades and gave credit to their remarkable employees.
Though their respective companies followed different paths to get there, both found themselves with about 90 employees near the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Through creativity, vision, passion, faith and a commitment to integrity, both have experienced extraordinary growth in company size and total sales since then. Jim and Steve exude optimism about the future for their companies, their families, their employees and the community that is the Greater Puget Sound.
And the Greater Puget Sound can afford to be optimistic when men of faith become conduits of God’s blessing, like Steve Bell and Jim Mischel.