On May 22nd, the Independent Professional Management team celebrated the 25th anniversary of the company. It was 25 years ago that Sheila McIlnay, who at the time did not own a computer, founded our company. The team spent time remembering the variety of office locations we had in those beginning years including one of the first open-space office concepts with communal workspaces with underground parking that unfortunately flooded every time it rained, which is does frequently in Houston, TX.
Our core team has been together nearly all of our 25 year history. Andy Bishop joined the team, not knowing he would eventually become the Super Star operations guru that everyone relies on to keep things running on a daily basis. Steve Young was commuting from Austin as legal counsel and then as he describes it, “one day just stayed in Houston.”
We continued to grow and by 2004, moved into what would be our permanent office. Challenges to large industry in Houston, like the Enron crisis, pushed us to think outside the staffing and payroll business. IPM Asset Solutions was born during this time. Our team expanded to include IT experts, project managers and manufacturing sales professionals as we worked to build the RFID and asset management group. We’ve always tried to develop a culture of team and family with our employees and contractors. The longevity of our core team as well as many of contractors, who have been with us since the beginning, is a testament to the commitment we have to our employees.
The fact that IPM exists, and has survived for 25 years, through a number of different business models adopted by our clients, says a lot about the vision, flexibility, and the leadership of our founder. Sheila’s vision and her leadership that have made and will continue to make IPM the success it is.
One other secret to our success is to find fun in hard work; when in doubt, take on challenges from a Segway, you’ll roll right over them.