杏吧传媒

09/06/2019
By Geoffrey Douglas

By the time he visited the university three years ago as a guest judge of the DifferenceMaker contest, Brian Rist 鈥�77 had already given generously to 杏吧传媒: An initial $25,000 endowment five years before had grown by then to more than $100,000.聽

But Rist says he was affected by something more on that visit: 鈥淭hese groups of students so intensely, incredibly passionate about trying to solve real-world problems: poverty, hunger, polluted drinking water鈥攚ell, that was just really inspiring to me.鈥澛�

When Rist committed last fall to a gift of $5 million鈥攖he largest single donation in the school鈥檚 history, taking it past its initial $125 million fundraising goal鈥攈e made clear that he intends a sizable share to go toward the DifferenceMaker program.聽

鈥淏rian鈥檚 generosity will have a tremendous impact on our students,鈥� says Chancellor Jacquie Moloney. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the power of 鈥極ur Place鈥欌�攖his determination to help new generations succeed because we share the same story.鈥澛�

For Rist, the decision was easy. 鈥淭hat sort of innovation, of dedication, just needs to be supported,鈥� he says.聽

Innovation has been a defining value for him鈥攁t least since the day nearly 30 years ago when, as a young employee at a garage-door company in Florida following one of the deadliest hurricanes in that state鈥檚 history, he had the first of several life-changing 鈥淓ureka!鈥� moments. 鈥淚t came to me that the garage door of a house was nearly always its largest opening, but also its weakest, and that if you could find a way to strengthen it, you could save yourself a lot of damage,鈥� he says.聽

That led to Rist鈥檚 design of a wind-bracing system that sold to Home Depot. Following that, he developed a career鈥檚 worth of breakthrough storm-protection innovations: a polypropylene 鈥渨ind-abatement screen鈥� to reduce the effects of hurricane-force winds, a remote-control, roll-down screen system (鈥渓ike having a bulletproof vest for the vulnerable openings in your home鈥�) and several other related products.聽

In 1996, with a partner and three employees, he founded Storm Smart in southwest Florida. Today, 23 years and several permutations later, with over 200 employees and more than $50 million in yearly sales, the company has been recognized by Inc. Magazine for two years in a row as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. With over 80,000 customers across several states, Mexico and the Caribbean region, it is among the largest hurricane-protection companies in the world.聽

It was an unlikely start. The son of a seamstress and a drycleaner owner in Stoughton, Mass. (鈥淭hey were garment-business people鈥攖hat鈥檚 how they met鈥�), Rist spent his teenage weekends manning the machines and rolling the quarters at his father鈥檚 self-service laundromat next door. When the time came to think about college, he was offered a scholarship at the National Institute of Dry Cleaners in Silver Spring, Md.聽

鈥淏ut I think my dad probably knew that I wanted something bigger,鈥� he says. At the time, though, he had no firm idea of what that might be鈥攗ntil one day, in his senior year of high school, he accompanied a friend on a visit to Lowell State College. His friend鈥檚 interest was in engineering; his own tended more toward business. 鈥淪o I鈥檇 just kind of come along for the ride. But when I got to looking around, I thought 鈥楬ey, this is kind of a neat place,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淚t seemed like a real neighborhood type of school. Plus, it was affordable.鈥澛�

鈥淭here are still people hurting. There are still problems out there. And we鈥檝e got to end that. We鈥檝e got to do what we can to break that cycle for good.鈥�

Rist enrolled the following year. His choice of a major was operations management. He would be the first in his family to graduate from college.聽

鈥淲hat I learned those years, not just in the classroom, but the whole thing鈥攖he people, the experiences, the culture of the place鈥擨 truly believe that without it, I wouldn鈥檛 be where I am today,鈥� he says.聽

In his mid-60s now, and with four decades of mounting successes behind him, you might expect that Rist would be easing off the gas. Instead, he鈥檚 pushing harder. He鈥檚 targeting $100 million in yearly sales, which he believes is achievable in as little as three years. But not without some adjustments: As the company grows and customer demand increases, greater specialization will be required, and perhaps also a consolidation of space.聽

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 run a $50-million company with 200 employees the same way you ran things when the company was half that size,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to adapt as you grow; you鈥檝e got to learn to adjust.鈥澛�

Some CEOs would figure it out themselves. Rist鈥檚 choice, instead, was to go back to school. So here he is today, 40-plus years later, back at 杏吧传媒鈥攖his time as an online student in the Manning School of Business鈥� MBA program. The course he鈥檚 currently taking seems made to order: Managing Organizational Change. 鈥淚鈥檓 learning so much, you wouldn鈥檛 believe鈥攁nd probably as much from the other students as from the course itself. They鈥檙e from all over the world, many from China,鈥� he says.

鈥淲e split into study groups; the challenges of expansion, the different types of change. It鈥檚 so relevant to everything that鈥檚 happening for me. And a lot of the others, wherever they鈥檙e from, are going through some of the same things. It鈥檚 been eye-opening.鈥� More and more lately, there鈥檚 been a whole new slant to Rist鈥檚 life.

鈥淚鈥檓 not the kind of guy to sit at home, and I鈥檓 not a good golfer,鈥� he told a reporter late last year. 鈥淏ut doing things to help the community is something I feel really good about.鈥�

He serves on the boards of seven local nonprofits, is past president of the Cape Coral Council for Progress and chaired a committee last year to raise the sales tax to help a struggling school system. Lately, together with his wife, Kim, he鈥檚 been active with the nonprofit Collier-Lee Honor Flight, which pays for the transport and escorting of elderly military veterans to Washington, D.C., to view the memorials of the wars in which they served. 鈥淵ou wheel them around Washington all day in a wheelchair, watch their faces looking at the things they fought for鈥攐ne of the most amazing days of my life,鈥� he says.

But most dear to Rist is what he sees as his mission with 杏吧传媒鈥攚hich dates back, he says, to his memories of the university, and the city, of 40 years ago.

鈥淟owell was in rough shape in those days. I knew people who were second- and third-generation unemployed鈥攖he mills were closed, there were no jobs, a lot of people were stuck. The city has come a long way; it鈥檚 most of the way back. But there are still people hurting. There are still problems out there. And we鈥檝e got to end that. We鈥檝e got to do what we can to break that cycle for good.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I believe in programs like DifferenceMaker. They solve problems; they help people help themselves. That鈥檚 why I give, and why I share my story鈥攖o help people, however I can.鈥�