Bob O'Brien

1991

Beth and Bob 1992

Bob O'Brien       ALCO
O'Brien Business Equipment
Email

Prior to founding O'Brien Business Equipment, Bob was with the Xerox Corporation for many years and was Secretary of the Columbus, Ohio Chamber of Commerce during the late '70s. He founded O'Brien Business Equipment, Columbus, Ohio in 1981.  AOP purchased the company in 1988 and Bob became a member of the AOP Team.  Bob continued as President of O'Brien Business Equipment as well as The Greater Columbus Region CEO, until being promoted to AOP Senior Vice President of vendor relations for AOP worldwide. 

Bob, Brooke, Beth 2011

Bob and Beth 2011

On 9/9/16 Beth sold her dental practice and retired.  Their daughter Brooke, after graduating from Georgetown is working in sales for Bloomberg in New York City and enjoying living and partying in the Big Apple.  

Bob and Beth 1991

In 2016 they sold their Ohio home and have purchased a home at Kensington in Naples. Bob is on the board of the country club and plays over 200 rounds a year. They would love to hear from any of our alumni who visit or live in SW Florida. 

Beth, Brooke, Bob, 2017

(Click here to see more of Bob and Beth's pictures from Austria, Montreal and Quebec City, Nevus, Rome and Florence, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Hawaii, France and Paris)

Beth, Brooke, Bob
June 2019

Rick Davis

Rick 2011

Rick Davis AOP

NightRider Overnight Copy Service

Houston, Texas

Rick and his wife Terri still live in Tomball, Texas, a suburb of Houston. After selling his chain of Speedy Print Shops in 1987, he founded NightRider Overnight Copy Service, a photocopying service company that catered to the legal profession. Rick developed NightRider from start-up into a nation-wide company, with offices in every major US city and more than 2000 employees (the largest of its kind, at that time).  He sold NightRider to AOP in 1992 and remained with AOP through early 1994 drring the transition. 

Rick 1993

After AOP in 1995 Rick purchased an IT company in Atlanta that grew to become "Extreme Logic", an internet company with offices in many US cities. "Extreme Logic" became the Microsoft National Partner of the year in 2000. In October of 2003, Rick sold "Extreme Logic" to Hewlett Packard. 

Today, he is very active with family,  the community and his church.  Rick, and The Davis family own a very unique restaurant in Tomball, TX called "Main Street Crossing" which is managed and operated by his son Matt Davis.  "Main Street Crossing"  provides food, drink, live music (entertainment) and a meeting place for several church communities, (Take a look at the very interesting website)!

Every Sunday, Rick hosts a radio show called "The Things That Matter Most", on 1160 AM KVCE Dallas/Ft. Worth and 700AM KSEV Houston, where he discusses a wide range of spiritual  viewpoints with insight and encouragement.

Curt Richter

Curt Richter 2005

Curt Richter
Badger Business Products
Hartford, WI & Southwest Florida

Email: (Click Here)

Carol and Curt 2011

Curt Richter 2013

Curt and Carol 1982

Badger Business Products, was the first dealer in the United States to carry the Savin copier line.  Curt founded Badger in in the late 1960's and sold to ALCO in 1987.  He continued as President of Badger through the name change to IKON and resigned from AOP in 1994.  Curt built several other businesses, including Imaging Concepts, (a Sharp Dealer) which was founded with his son, Curt Jr. in 1990 and sold the business to Global in 2005. He also entered the water business in the late 1990's and sold the company a few years later.  

                                 

Carol and Curt 2016

Today, Carol and Curt reside in Southwest Florida and still own homes in Wisconsin and New Mexico.

   The Milwaukee Sentinel - Feb 3, 1993

Jim Teel

Jim Teel ALCO
J.L. Teel Business Systems.                              
Email: (Click Here)
Jim served as President and CEO of J.L. Teel BusinessSystems in Columbus,MS. from 1975 till 1998.  TBS was a full line Canon Ricoh copier dealer with 175 employees in offices throughout the mid-south.

J.L.Teel Company and Jim Teel became an AOP Partner in 1991. In 1998, Jim became the Southern District President ofAOP/IKON.

Rick Maier                 Bob O'Brien                  Jim Teel

During his tenure with TBS Teel owned and operated Lynn Leasing, a small ticket leasing company. Before starting TBS in 1975 Teel worked for Xerox and A. B. Dick Co in sales and management. Teel has been active throughout the years in various business and civic organizations including Board of Directors, Deposit Guaranty National Bank in Columbus, Mississippi; Rotary International (Paul Harris Fellow); Chairman, Mississippi University for Women Foundation and Finance Chairman, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra board of Directors.

TODAY, Jim is owner of SoundBlast Technologies, LLC, an Oil and Energy Company, Orlando, FL.  SoundBlast Technologies was founded in 2006  to pursue research and development of coherent detonation wave technology.  SoundBlast is a high technology,small business with the mission of providing high-pressure acoustic solutions for both military and commercial applications.  The SoundBlast team is composed of experienced entrepreneurs, former military personnel and accomplished scientists, all with decades of experience in product development

Jim and Suzanne live in Winter Park Florida, and Jim spends a good deal of time playing competitive Croquet!

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       Jim   (about 1990)                                                           Jim 2019

Jim Kincer

Jim 2012

Jim 1991

Jim Kincer ALCO

CopyCorp

Email: (Click Here)

Phone: (Click Here)

Copy Corporation, Louisville was founded in 1978, which became the largest independent copier company in Kentucky with offices in Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Owensboro and Evansville.  We became an ALCO company in 1989. I continued with AOP until 1996. In late 1996 we entered the water purification/cooler business and in 2002 merged the business with, Don Dudnie, John Peters, Bob Kearns, Ed Kane, Jon King and Rich Bova to become Quench USA.    Today, I continue managing our residential rental property business (JK Property, LLC) we have owned for the last 30 years.

Jim Kincer 2010

In 1998, I was elected the Mayor of our hometown, Pewee Valley, KY  also  some of you may remember, we owned two Louisville radio stations WFIA and WXLN-FM.  Both stations were sold in 1995. 

Joyce and Jim 2006

Family Picture 2013

Joyce and I have three children, Nikkii, Jim Jr. and Derek.  We have six grandchildren and fortunately, they all live around Louisville.  We enjoy our family, Florida home, classic car collection and traveling as much as we can!  

Mike Abram

Mike Abram
and wife Carol 1992

Mike and Carol 1990

Michael Abram  ALCO

Calgary Copier Ltd.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Email (Click Here)

Calgary Copier and Mike Abram became a member of the AOP Team in 1990 and he retired from AOP in 1999.  He was president of Calgary Copiers for several years and grew Calgary to a national company even before it was sold to ALCO in 1990.  

In February 2000, after leaving AOP (in 1999), Mike became President of Shaw Ventures, a division of Shaw Communications Inc. and Mike became President of "Shaw Direct" in 2003.  He continues to lead his teams within Ventures, Big Pipe and Cancom (Truck Tracking) with the addition of the team at Star Choice.  Shaw Direct provides digital picture and Dolby surround sound audio and video Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite services in Canada. It distributes digital video and audio programming services via satellite to Canadian residences and commercial establishments. Shaw Direct was formerly known as Star Choice Communications, Inc and changed its name to Shaw Direct in April 2009.  As of December 19, 2003, Shaw Direct operates as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications, Inc.  

Mike  also served as a Director and Member of the Audit Committee for Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. from April 2003 to April 19, 2005 

Today, Mike is retired and the best I have been able to learn, he retired in 2008 or 2009.   He and Carol still reside in Calgary Alberta, Canada.

Mike Abrams and Gary Strauss

Earl Benson

Earl - 2011

Earl Benson 1994

Earl Benson  ALCO 
ACME Business Products 
Email (Click Here)

Prior to founding Acme Business Products in 1979, Earl Benson drove a bread truck, delivering bread to groceries and restaurants.  From '79 to '83 and beyond, Earl grew ACME to be one of the largest and leading privately owned office equipment companies in the nation, respected by customers, vendors and manufacturers alike.  Earl sold ACME Business Products, to AOP in 1983 and continued expanding his regional and national responsibilities with AOP until retiring just a few years ago. 

Earl and Sandy  1992  Peter and Ros

Before AOP and while part of the growing office equipment giant, Earl was know as a very strong, hard working, soft spoken, southern gentleman, and "that he was"!  He expected great things from everyone and usually got it!  Earl was definitely a leader in our industry and understood every aspect of this business inside and out.  

Earl and Sandra 2011

Earl and Sandra 1994

Today, Earl and Sandra still live in their beautiful home in Macon and he spends his retirement with Sandra and his family.  "Personally, it was a real pleasure working with Mr. Benson"!   The link below talks more about the kind of people that Earl and Sandy are, please take a look. 

Sandra and Earl on one of our Hawaii trips

On 9/24/11 Acme held a reunion Click to see comments from the reunion.

EARLY ACME NEWSPAPER AD BELOW

Hallie Gibbs

Hallie 1990

Hallie Gibbs 1996

Hallie H. Gibbs  ALCO
Modern Business Systems
Email  (Clidk Here)

Phone (Click Here)
Prior to founding Modern Business Systems in 1965, Hallie was a barber in Central Illinois.  He and Paul Pierce started Modern by selling copy machines out of a garage and grew it to be the largest independent copier dealer in the United States.  Hallie sold Modern Business Systems to AOP and became a partner in 1982.  He retired from AOP in 1996.

Hallie mentioned that his son Bruce, whom many of you know, was co-founded GFI Digital office equipment business in Saint Louis in 1999. "GFI" stands for Gibbs Family Investments.

Hallie 1992

Hallie 1992

Today, Hallie and Karen still reside in Jefferson City, MO but winter in Palm Springs!  As you may remember, Hallie was always big on "motor coaching".  He has recently acquired a Newel Motor Coach, one of the finest available!  He and Karen  travel the country when-ever and where-ever they get the urge.  Hallie served as chairman of the Easter Seals Telethon in 1988 and 1989 and Honorary Chairmanof the Easter Seals "Walk- With-Me" from 2004 through 2007, raising more than $100,000 for Easter Seals in Jefferson City. In 2007 the Missouri House of Representatives honored Hallie and Karen as Exemplary Citizens in local communities and neighborhoods through excellence of their endeavors as entrepreneurs and philanthropists.  It is also obvious that Hallie and Karen are very proud of their children and 12 grandchildren. To say the least, they are really enjoying their retirement!  

Every year (for 33 years) Hallie takes a group of friends and associates pheasant hunting which has become a highlight of the year for him!

Hallie and Karen are doing great but both had knee replacement surgery in the fall of 2012 and after recovery they both were as good as new and didn't slow down at all.  Karen recently (Jan. 2014) had back surgery and is recovering at home in Jefferson City. 

Hallie Gibbs

In 2019 The Jefferson City Magazine honored Hallie with the article:  "The American Dream"  click here to read.

Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson ALCO
Global Imaging Systems
Email (Click Here)

Tom was with ALCO from 1975  until 1989, holding various positions.  However, during the Alco Office Products (AOP) early years he was the Vice President of Operations responsible for acquisitions and assisting under-performing companies. 

From 1989-1990, Tom served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Danka Business Systems and from 1990 until 1994 at which time he did industry consultant, assisting more than 25 independent dealers with growing their businesses through acquisitions.  

In 1994 Tom Johnson founded Global Imaging Systems which became a publicly traded company in 1998, and was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the 400 Best Big Companies in America in 2007. After growing Global to nearly 1.5 billion dollars he sold the company to Xerox Corporation in 2007.

Tom and his wife Jane are major benefactors to the University of Florida, where He is on the Board of the Warrington College of Business and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  Tom is also the namesake for the Thomas S. Johnson Masters in Entrepreneurship and the Head Coaches Office (Will Muschamp).  In 2007 Tom was named a Distinguished Alumnus, and served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Business School.  He also serves as a Distinguished Director for Gator Boosters, Inc.

Today, he is retired, and reside on their 500 acre ranch in Dade City, just north of Tampa. As one might expect, he stays busy in his retirement developing and growing a few start-up companies (not in the copier industry). 
Tom and Jane  spend time supporting the “Gators” and spending time with friends, four adult children and especially their six grandchildren.  


Click on this paragraph to see what Tom said was the one accomplishment that he is most proud: "The Thomas S. Johnson Master of Science in Entrepreneurship Program (MSE) at the Hough Graduate School of Business at the Warrington College of Business".

Jim Hovinga

Jim Hovinga ALCO

Hovinga Business Machines Grand Haven, MI
Hovinga Business Machines, Inc. was founded in May 1973 by Jim Hovinga and was purchased by ALCO in 1989.

Jim Hovinga of Hovinga Business Machines, was one of the early companies purchased by ALCO.  Jim was not only a very nice gentleman, he was also an excellent businessman but didn’t stay long with ALCO/IKON.  He left IKON in 1996 and formed JPH Properties,  in 1997 Jim formed JPHP Capital,  in 2006 he founded Mojo Group Too and JPHP Condo in 2007, all in Grand Haven, MI.   JimA became very successful (again) in the property, construction and finance business in Michigan.  

Today, Jim and Debra still live in the Grand Haven area and if you have information or details about Jim Hovinga, please email me at this email address.  

 

Bill Curran

1990

Bill Curran ALCO
Southern Copy Machines
Email (Click Here)

Prior to founding Southern Copy Machines in Atlanta Bill was National Sales Manager for S.C.M. Corporation.  He started  Southern Copy Machines on April 1, 1979 and in eight years, grew it to be one of the largest copier companies in Georgia and one of the largest in the country.  He sold Southern Copy Machines to Hillman in 1987 and in 1989 ALCO acquired the Hillman Group.  Bill became a member of the AOP Team in 1989. In subsequent years, he became the President of the AOP (IKON) Georgia, managing 1200 employees, 35,000 customers producing more than $200 million dollars in revenue before retiring from AOP in 1999.
  

Catherine and Bill Curran   2010

Bill married Catherine (many of you will remember her) in 1998 and proclaimed “it was the best thing he has ever done”! They still reside in Norcross, GA and are enjoying a great life together!   Bill has had some health issues since 2004, but doing well now (Dec. 2012).

Today, Bill and Catherine travel the world and enjoy as much time as possible at their Hilton Head home.  He and Barry Taylor take a couple of extended, exotic hiking trips in places most people dream of visiting.  In fact, they just returned from a fantastic hiking trip to Machu Picchu, Peru! 

Mark White

Betty and Mark White 

Mark White
Systems and Services
Greenville, SC

Betty White

The Whites and John stuart