American Power Conversion Corporation - Dowdell's Arrival in 1985

Dowdell's Arrival in 1985

APC's advantageous position perhaps would have been worth nothing were it not for Rodger Dowdell, Jr. Though not a founder of the company, Dowdell was a particularly important figure in APC's history. Dowdell joined APC as its president in August 1985, beginning an enduring length of service that would see him preside over the company for more than two decades. For nine months before his appointment as president, Dowdell worked as a consultant for APC, developing a marketing and production strategy for UPS products. Before that, he served a six-year term as president of Independent Energy, Inc., a maker of electronic temperature controls.

Dowdell's strength was in manufacturing. He knew how to achieve optimal efficiency in manufacturing a product, a skill that would serve APC well as it established itself in its fledgling market and later as it contended with the pressures of a burgeoning market. Within months of becoming president, Dowdell directed the company's manufacturing operations to be moved from alongside Massachusetts Route 128 to Peacedale, Rhode Island. By moving to Rhode Island, Dowdell gave the young APC several advantages. Tax incentives were part of the benefits of a Rhode Island manufacturing base, where real estate was inexpensive and skilled labor was available. Dowdell was an executive, not an engineer, and his emphasis on reducing operating costs to increase profit margins helped APC gain its footing in a soon-to-be lucrative market. The company also was aided by a quality product. In 1986, the year APC relocated to Rhode Island, the 750 was awarded the "Editor's Choice" award by the influential trade publication PC Magazine. APC ended its fifth year of business with its product on the map and its manufacturing facility situated in an ideal geographic location.

During the latter half of the 1980s, the use of personal computers in corporate settings and the networking of personal computers proliferated. Data was flying from desktop to desktop in increasing volume, its vulnerability to erratic electricity threatening a major crisis to any business reliant on computers. Power protection was a necessity, and APC began to reap the rewards of its leading position in a once miniscule market. To keep pace with the growth of its market and to exploit it to its fullest potential, APC needed capital. Dowdell, realizing the need for an infusion of cash, decided to take APC public in 1988. In July, he completed the company's initial public offering, when the company's stock debuted on the NASDAQ for $7.50 per share.

The energetic growth of the markets APC served ignited APC's own growth. The company's sales increased impressively during the latter half of the decade, rising from $400,000 in 1984 to more than $35 million in 1989. Industry observers took notice of APC's advances and gave new merit to the market for power protection. In 1989, Business Week ranked APC number four on its list of the 100 "hottest" companies in the country, the same year Fortune listed the company as one of the ten "stock superstars of the 1990s" and Inc. ranked the company as number 40 on its list of the 100 fastest-growing public companies in the country. APC had arrived, holding sway with a 30 percent share of the backup power-supply market. Its products, ranging from a $2,000 power supply for minicomputers to a $169 backup for desktops, were respected and coveted, putting the company in an ideal position to grab the lion's share of the power protection business in the 1990s, a decade that would bring phenomenal growth to personal computers and related markets.