Category Archives: small business

Just another Friday at ABG

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Welcome back to the Just another Friday at ABG Capital blog post! Today I have some great things to share with you. Since it’s almost the end of July, it’s time to mention our August birthdays and anniversaries. Our August birthdays include Geno Zucarro on August 5, Matt Bartko on August 10, Tyler Weimerskirch on August 12, Kathy Scheidlemeier on August 20, Ian Hambelton on August 26 and Sharon Kolesar also on August 26. Happy Birthday to all of you, we hope you have some great celebrations!

Next we have to announce a few August anniversaries. Barry Yancosek has been with us for three years as of August 2 and Denise Breide has been with us for two years as of August 23. Congratulations on making it to these fantastic milestones in your ABG Capital careers!

It is the end of the month and this is usually when we announce the topics we’ve discussed in our Month End Meeting, but that meeting has been postponed. We’ve moved the meeting to next Friday, August 2. That means that next week’s Just another Friday post will have all of the great July information.

ABG Capital BuildoutIn other ABG Capital news, our build-out is happen so quickly; old walls are coming down just as fast a new ones are going up! While those new walls are going up, they’re prepping the floors for carpet and then the furniture will be arriving August 5. The office is noisy and full of dust but it’s all part of making the final product happen that we can’t wait to see.

That’s all we have for you today folks. Have a great weekend!

Just another Friday at ABG

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Welcome back to your Just another Friday at ABG Capital! You can really tell that it’s summer around the office because we don’t have that much going right now. Things are moving along nice and smooth, people are taking vacations and most important of all, our build-out is moving along.

Earlier this week Jeff Tapolci, CEO of ABG Capital, and Ron Eggert, President of ABG Capital, spent the day in Cleveland, Ohio at McNeil Industries. They met Jim Hoffman, their strategic coach, and Justin McNeil of McNeil Industries. They got to tour their facility while getting some great coaching tips from Jim. These guys are a close knit group of professionals who always manage to have an enjoyable time with each other while gaining new insight into the way they run their businesses. The last time they all got together was in May; click here to read all about the fun they had!

McNiel Industries Cleveland

 Now I’d talk a little bit about the office build-out project we started in April. We need to expand our office due to the rapid growth of VoIP Innovations and Inspira. We’re constructing a new (bigger) kitchen, a new (bigger) training room and new (bigger) call centers. Unfortunately due to the landlord not getting electric and plumbing permits until late last week, the project has been slightly pushed back.

Phase one should have been completed by now, but because of the later permits, the builder decided to skip Phases three and four. Phase three has been completely finished, but Phase 4 has been only partially completed. Despite the minor set backs, we’re anticipating that we’ll be fully operational by the end of August!

Well, that’s all we have for today. Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!

 

 

ABG Capital has 21st Annual Company Picnic

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This weekend we had our 21st Annual ABG Capital Company Picnic at South Park V.I.P. Pavilion in Bethel Park. We were very fortunate that we had great weather, great people and most of all great times! We organize these picnic every year so we have a chance to get together with our employees and their families. It’s a carefree time where everyone can just let loose and have some fun.

ABG Capital's Sharon and Sara

Sharon (left) and Sara (right)

We first want to give a huge shout out to Sara Warhold and Sharon Kolesar. These two worked hard to make sure everything went off without a hitch. Thank you both for all of your hard work!

The picnic ran from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with TONS of fun activities going on the entire time. There was basketball, volleyball, horseshoes, corn hole and mini golf. We had water balloon and egg tosses, spoon races and the kids could even get their faces or fingernails painted.

Now, we mentioned already that we played a few friendly games of corn hole… But there were a few professionals at the party! Kathy Scheidlemeier brought her husband and son to the picnic and those two were knocking teams out left and right. We have reason to believe they are part of some sort of secret corn hole society because of the accuracy and technique they brought to the table. No matter how bad people won or lost, every game was a truly enjoyable one.

If you want to check out some pictures from the picnic, please visit our Facebook page!

ABG Capital Picnic

Just another Friday at ABG

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Happy Friday everyone! We just have a few quick things to mention and then you can enjoy your weekend knowing you’re all caught up with your ABG Capital news.

Matt and EmilyWe want to start by congratulating one of our employees on getting married last week. Matt Bartko and his wife Emily tied the knot on the Fourth of July. Yesterday we helped him celebrate even more by bringing in a cake for everyone to enjoy. Congratulations Matt and Emily, we wish you both many years of love and happiness!

As for some other exciting ABG Capital news, we were notified today that we have been selected as one of the 2013 Best Places to Work in Western Pennsylvania! Our employees filled out a survey a few months ago and it was their responses that got us on that list. We truly strive to make our office a place where people want to come every day and by making it on the list again this year, it reassures us that we’re doing something right! Our official ranking won’t be released until the banquet in November.Breakthrough!

Today we also got the surveys that will put us in the running for the Best Places to Work in the entire State of Pennsylvania. To any employees reading this post: if you love working here, why not tell the whole world about it by filling out the survey you all received today.

We’re extremely excited for the weekend since we’re having our Annual Company Picnic tomorrow! It’s going to be a day filled with employees and their families enjoying a nice summer day. We’ll be playing corn hole, badminton, volley ball and tons of other great picnic games. Don’t worry, we’ll be taking pictures the whole time so keep an eye out for them on Facebook!

Have a great weekend everyone. 🙂

Just another Friday at ABG

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From everyone at ABG Capital, Happy Fourth of July! This week has gone pretty fast, but there’s been a lot of excitement. Last week we had our month end meeting where we recognized our May Employee of the Month, Spot Light of the Month and Honorable Mentions. Today I’d like to introduce those employees who have been outstanding for June: Geno Zuccaro is our Employee of the Month and Kathy Scheidelmeier is our Spot Light of the Month. Jake Crisman and Denise Breide also deserve some recognition for being our June Honorable Mentions.

While we’re making these monthly announcements, we want to give a shout out to all of our July anniversaries and birthdays. The anniversaries are Jeff Tapolci on July 7th (16 years), Sharon Kolesar on July 19th (2 years), Jaime Doyle on July 25th (2 years) and Joe Golubski on July 26th (3 years). Congratulations everyone!

The July birthdays are Justin Cornish on July 2nd, Jaime Doyle on July 9th, Jennifer Williams on July 13th,  Jerry Eddy on July 19th, Lowell Smith and Ryan Rice on July 21st, Collin Ballantine on July 24th, Eric Butler on July 30th and Bruce Smith on July 31st. Happy Birthday to you all!

In other news, ABG Capital is going through a network evolution project that will move ABG Capital and its portfolio companies’ network resources to the world of virtualization. One of the first pieces was installed this week when we added our brand new SAN (Storage Area Network) to our ACM Co-location.

ABG Capital SAN

Lastly I want to mention that we are currently undergoing a website reconstruction. The look and feel will remain the same, but we’ll be adding more of our own pictures and refreshing the content. We’re looking to have Phase One completely by the end of July. We’ll be making another announcement when it gets closer to the unveiling.

Just another Friday at ABG

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Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’re ready to hear all about the exciting things we’ve been up to all week. I want to start off by mentioning that our CEO, Jeff Tapolci, was featured in the Pittsburgh Business Times as part of an executive survey they did. There were 97 executives and managers who offered their advice on business traveling. Jeff was featured in the “Through business travel I have learned to never…” section where he replied with, “Put your car keys in a checked bag.”

ABG Capital Anniversaries

Jeff and Jessica

ABG Capital Anniversaries 2

Erica and Jeff

Since June is coming to an end, we had our Month End Meeting today. Unfortunately our Employee of the Month, Randy Stegner, wasn’t in the office to accept his award but we’ll make sure he gets in on Monday! We also named Matt Chapman as our Honorable Mention. We also congratulated Erica Penrod and Jessica Young for making it to important anniversaries at ABG Capital. Erica has been with us for 5 years and Jessica has been with us for 10 years.

Earlier this week we had a big birthday in the office. Rich James, our legal counsel, celebrated his 50th birthday! After work he was surprised with a birthday party at the O’Reilly Theater. Everyone enjoyed a pasta bar and the show, Other Desert Cities. Later in the week Jeff Tapolci and Ron Eggert joined Pete Ferraro from KFMR at the Cigar Bar at Cioppino of Pittsburgh.

In the office this week our IT crew, Steve Korbett and Jake Crisman, kept themselves very busy. They always have numerous issues to solve on a daily basis, but this week they’ve ramped up their IT efforts and completed over 22 tasks! Keep up the great work you guys!

On Sunday, June 23rd, we celebrated our 21st birthday. We’ve grown as an organization so much since 1992 and we love where we are today but our history is still a vital part of our existence. Next week we’ll be posting a more in-depth article on our history and how our values then still hold true today.

ABG Capital 21st Birthday

Just another Friday at ABG

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Isn’t it great that the first day of summer falls on a Friday? We think so! Before you head out of the office to enjoy your weekend, we want to give you a recap of what’s been going on all week. Inspira and VoIP Innovations have been the busiest out of all the companies, but we did have some exciting things to celebrate this week! June marks the anniversaries of three great people: Bruce Smith (Inspira) celebrates 2 years, Erica Penrod (ABG Capital) celebrates 5 years and Jessica Young (VoIP Innovations) celebrates 10 years! Congratulations for hitting each of those milestones; you’re all fantastic members of the ABG Capital family 🙂

Inspira had a few guests from the General Accountability Office (GAO) visiting to conduct some research on Automatic IRA Rollovers for Congress. They even got to experience one of our fabulous lunches made by one of our lunch committees. They really enjoyed their visit and their lunch and even joked about paying for it since they ARE THE GOVERNMENT. If you want to read more about what Inspira has been up to this week (which is a lot!) then visit their blog and read the Checking in with Inspira post.

Moving on to VoIP Innovations, they are preparing for their trip to ITEXPO in Las Vegas. The show is in August but you can never prepare enough for such a huge tradeshow like this one. They’re feature their BackOffice, Titanium III and also their Titanium Private Label BackOffice (TPL). Earlier this week they posted an article with a timeline of features they’ve added since the beginning of the year and boy have they been busy! You can find that article and much more in this week’s Chat with Nat.

That just about sums up this weeks Just another Friday at ABG post. Have a great weekend and enjoy the rest of your summer!

summer

 

 

Just another Friday at ABG

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Who’s happy it’s Friday? We are! We just have a few things to cover and then it’s time for the weekend. We’ll start with the outings that Jeff Tapolci, ABG Capital CEO, and Ron Eggert, ABG Capital President, attended on Tuesday. They first went to the PVCA 2013 Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year Luncheon. Later on in the day they attended a Client and Colleague Reception hosted by Clark Hill Thorp Reed. They were celebrating their new identity and thanking everyone who supported them in the process. To read more about these events, take a look at the Around Town with Jeff blog post!

As you remember from last week, we started Tend to You at 10 and 2 breaks as part of a new wellness program. So far it’s been going pretty well! Everyone can get away from their desk and go outside to blow off some steam. We’ve seen people using footballs, Frisbees and a hockey net even showed up. Check out the GlobalPOPs Facebook page if you want to see pictures from the pick-up hockey game.

ABG Capital Tend to You

A great action shot of Nate!

We want to give a shout out to our lunch committee this week for cooking up some great stuff for lunch today. Barry Yancosek, Sally Stewart, Joe Golubski and Jenn Williams have come up with a BBQ menu that includes BBQ chipped ham, BBQ pulled pork, vegan linguini salad, and a vegan bean bake. Doesn’t that sound delicious? They also brought watermelon and chips and for dessert they had ice cream and fruit bars. Thanks for the fantastic lunch!

Next I want to talk a little about the 12 Chimes of Life. While our Executive Team was at the Gazelles Leadership Summit a few weeks ago they got a book called Live a Thousand Years by Giovanni Livera. The book examines how measuring your time and success by moments and experiences can be very powerful. If you take these strategies to heart and apply them to your life you’ll experience 12 times the life experiences of the average person. If you want more information on each chime, we’ll be posting them individually on our social media sites every Monday. Here is the list of the 12 Chimes of Life:

  1. Time for yourself
  2. Time to be positive
  3. Time to give
  4. Time for relationships
  5. Time to learn
  6. Time in the moment
  7. Time to dream
  8. Time to play
  9. Time to work
  10. Time to forgive
  11. Time to be brave
  12. Time to reset

Lastly, I want to share a video that’s been floating around our office. It highlights the proper procedures that need to be taken when trying to get something fixed by our IT Department. Employees who DON’T follow the correct steps will face the consequences. Watch the video here!

Around Town with Jeff

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ABG Capital at PVCA

Honoree Raul Valdez-Perez

WHO: Jeff Tapolci and Ron Eggert

WHAT: 2013 Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year luncheon

WHERE: Fairmont Hotel

WHEN: Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Jeff and Ron attended this awards luncheon to help honor Bill Newlin and Raul Valdes-Perez. Bill is the Chairman of the Newlin Investment Company and Raul is the Co-Founder and former Chairman and CEO of Vivisimo, Inc. Here is an excerpt about these two taken from the PVCA:

“As this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, William R. Newlin’s contributions to the business and entrepreneurial community of Pittsburgh are many. Twice named as one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America,” he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Buchanan Ingersoll for nearly 25 years, where he was a pioneer in providing legal and business counsel to the region’s technology start-up companies. He was a founding director of the Pittsburgh Technology Council; a co-founder of the CEO Venture Funds, which were among Pittsburgh’s first native venture capital funds for developing technology companies; and a co-founder of the Pittsburgh Biomedical Development Corporation, Pittsburgh’s first pre-seed fund for life sciences companies. In addition, he has served as chairman of the board of directors of Kennametal, Inc., and executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as a director of such companies as Plextronics, Etcetera Edutainment, Calgon Carbon, and Black Box Corporation.

As the 2013 Outstanding Entrepreneur, Raul Valdes-Perez’s list of achievements include: authored 50 academic articles and book chapters, received seven research grants from the National Science Foundation, did his PhD under Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon, and, most notably, co-founded Vivisimo, a company that was acquired by IBM in 2012. He has been named a regional Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and was twice a finalist for CEO of the Year by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.”

 

WHO: Jeff Tapolci and Ron Eggert

WHAT: The Sounds of Summer Client and Colleague Reception

WHERE: Heinz Hall Grand Lobby and Garden Plaza

WHEN: Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Ron from ABG Capital

Marty Dorfner, Ron Eggert and J. Bianchin

This event was held by Clark Hill Thorp Reed who is welcoming a new identity. Jeff and Ron were invited to attend this event so the firm could show their appreciation to them as well as their other clients and colleagues. Along with showing their appreciation, they wanted to kick off summer by connecting Thorp Reed contacts with the new Clark Hill Colleagues. While they were there, they got to meet up with Marty Dorfner, Managing Director at Resources Global Professionals, and J. Bianchin SVP, Senior Relationship Manager at Wells Fargo Bank. Overall it was a great networking event for Jeff and Ron. After the event, they stopped over at Cioppino’s for some cigars and relaxation. For pictures, check out the ABG Capital Facebook page!

Just another Friday at ABG

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Life at ABG Capital has been pretty good this week! We started a new office initiative that involves getting away from your desk and we closed out the week with some golf.

Our newest office initiative is designed to boost productivity and get people away from their desks. No, you didn’t read that wrong, studies have proven that leaving your desk for short periods of time will give your body the ‘recharge’ it needs to make it through the day without feeling stressed or overwhelmed. We’re calling our new program “Tend to You at 10 and 2”. We’ll be asking all of our employees to get up from their desks for 10-15 minutes at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and go do something. We are encouraging employees to bring in their own things like hacky sacks, basketballs, baseballs and mitts to add to the Frisbees, footballs, and other sports equipment ABG Capital will provide. We’ll be walking some laps around the lake, stretching our muscles with gentle yoga poses and becoming a fitter crew while recharging our brains! We’re officially kicking off this initiative next week so stay tuned for details on how it goes.

ABG Capital has gone golfing

Jeff, Ron and Ben Witsberger

Lastly, Jeff Tapolci and Ron Eggert have been out of the office playing in golf outings yesterday and today. Yesterday they were at the ACG outing with Sean Andreas from Wells Fargo and Justin Bertram from Incline Equity Partners.  They took 3rd place! Great job guys! Sean joined them again today in the Wells Fargo outing and Ben Witsberger, also from Wells Fargo, was there as well. For more pictures of their golfing adventures, check out our Facebook page.

That’s all we have for you today folks, have a great weekend!