4 | JOBS FOR DISABLED November 20, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 47
17 | 'AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY'
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Stamford company takes next step in newborn footprints BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
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Perhaps those quick results should come as no surprise . Jacobs — who in 2011 gained approximately 71 percent ownership of what was then called Express-1 through his Jacobs Private Equity LLC, which remains XPO’s largest shareholder — has founded five companies and led each of them to become a billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar concern . Over his career, he’s led teams that he estimates have completed about 250 cold starts and 500 acquisitions . In 1997, he founded United Rentals Inc . in Greenwich . Within 13 months it had become the world's largest equipment rental company . Over the 10 years he ran it, the company reached $3 .9 billion in revenue, with more than 700 branches and
newborn’s footprints have long been a fun keepsake for parents and an easy way for hospitals to maintain their records — primarily to avoid mix-ups, but also to help aid law enforcement and disaster relief agencies in determining the identity of a child who’s gone missing, sometimes for years . As with fingerprints, footprints are unique to each person and can be used for forensic identification throughout one’s lifetime . But the old ink-and-paper method used to footprint a newborn is inevitably giving way to the digital age . CertaScan Technologies LLC in Stamford represents the next step forward in the area, providing a modern scanning technology and patent- pending system to scan the feet of newborn babies instead of simply digitizing photos of the ink-and-paper print . James McKenna, president and COO of CertaScan, said the idea for the company grew out of the 19 years he spent at what is now Mom365, the country’s largest professional photographer of newborns . During that time he saw photography shift to digital and the rise of the “Have you seen me?” photos and biographical details printed on milk cartons in attempts to locate missing or abducted children . “Ink can smear or otherwise result in a less-than-perfect image,” McKenna said at CertaScan’s 76 Progress Drive headquarters, “What I wanted to do was come up with something that was reliable, easy to use and cost-effective .” Footprints are also preferable to fingerprints as it can be difficult and painful to pry open a newborn’s fist long enough to get a usable print . Iris scans are useless as
» XPO LOGISTICS, page 6
» CERTASCAN , page 12
The X-factor of short and long hauls SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR BUILDS GREENWICH LOGISTICS COMPANY XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs speaks at his Greenwich company’s October leadership summit. At left is XPO Logistics COO Troy Cooper.
BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
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romising to turn a $175 milliona-year company into a $5 billion one in just five years is a pretty audacious thing to do . That’s what XPO Logistics Chairman and CEO Bradley Jacobs did while speaking to a group of executives in 2012, shortly after gaining control of the Greenwich transportation and logistics company . Jacobs’ promise proved to be mistaken . It’s the kind of mistake that most would give their eyeteeth to make . Instead of $5 billion, XPO ended its fifth year under Jacobs’
leadership with revenues of $14 .7 billion . According to XPO’s third-quarter results, released on Nov . 1, quarterly revenue was a record $3 .89 billion, compared with $3 .71 billion for the same period in 2016 . XPO stands as the third-largest publicly traded U .S . logistics company, behind UPS and FedEx . How did Jacobs get it so wrong? “That’s a good question,” the 61-yearold Rhode Island native said with a laugh at XPO’s 5 American Lane headquarters . “We focused on building and maintaining a well-organized company with really great people, staying focused on our business plan and executing it well .” That plan involved making key acquisi-
tions via what Jacobs called “reasonable deals,” and integrating them into XPO’s existing technology and sales culture . “It really all fell into place,” he said, “and it went faster than I’d originally thought .”
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO