addressable market. I think investors are looking for great companies, but they also need to be in markets where you can do a lot of good. Ten you want to be a best-in-class company. And best-in-class doesn’t just mean the highest grower; it means top- of-the-class in growth, in profitability, in managing margins and cash flow, and everything that comes with those aspects of the business. Te third leg of the stool for investors is that not only can they expect increasing EBITDA growth and margins, but they can also ascribe some type of increase in the value proposition by way of your stock’s multiple. If you put together best-in-class growth in earnings with a story that’s grounded in a big dynamic market, you can get multiple expansion. You put those aspects of a business model together, that’s what really gives fire to the story and the share value.
IRU: What’s the one thing you take with you on every business trip? Hanson: It would have to be my briefcase, which has all my materials from the latest reported quarter. My children gave me this briefcase with my initials on it. I take it on every trip I go, and without it, I would feel lost.
IRU: If you weren’t CEO, what would you be doing? Hanson:Tat’s a good question. If I go back in time to 2012 when Apex was acquired, I felt that my job as Apex’s CFO was simply to get my company settled as part of the public company ASGN and then at some point depart once the transition process was completed. Tat didn’t quite work out that way, as I ultimately became CEO, something I am definitely very proud to have accomplished. But, once upon a time, I thought maybe I could teach a finance course at the college level and that would be interesting. It would be rewarding to share my insights with college and graduate students who are thinking about starting or growing businesses. At Apex, for example, we had an advisory board of seasoned executives that we put together, and that board was instrumental in everything that we did. So, maybe there’s a place for me having an advisory or teaching role down the line. On the other hand, maybe there is acting! (Note: said sarcastically.) As a kid, I was in a national Pepsi
niri.org/ irupdate
I think investors are looking for great companies, but they also need to be in markets where you can do a lot of good.
commercial that ran for years. Tey wanted to shoot something in the Southwest Virginia area near my childhood home, and for some reason my mom thought it would be a great idea to go to the casting call. I don’t know how it happened, but I ended up being cast as part of a family promoting Pepsi. I’m not a big Pepsi drinker today, but after that commercial, I was sure loyal for a while!
IRU: Where is your happy place? Hanson: I really like to be on the water with my fam- ily. My kids grew up water skiing, but as they got older, they took on wakeboarding in their spare time. I’ve water skied my whole life and then ultimately learned to wakeboard with my kids. Tey would bring their friends who didn’t know how to wakeboard to visit us, and we would always make a big deal about teaching them how to do it. My wife Linda would take these great pictures of our children’s friends getting up on their boards for the first time. She’d put these pictures in frames and collect them on the wall of our home. Those pictures are great memories which I would not trade for anything. IR
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