When Paul Swidersky takes one of his coveted fishing trips, the last thing he wants to do is see a paper or fax.
In fact, even when he?s at work, it?s Swidersky?s job to make sure his clients don?t have paper cluttering their desks.
Founder and chief executive officer of Quality Associates Inc., named Howard County?s Business of the Year by the Maryland Tech Council, Swidersky?s goal is to make his clients completely paper-free. By digitizing all their records and providing databases to access those records with, QAI helps business reduce paper costs and save substantial amounts of money and time in the process.
“We promote the idea of totally going to a paperless office,” Swidersky said. “We stay on the leading edge of this developing technology.”
A Pennsylvania native, Swidersky started QAI in 1997. Growing right from the start, QAI is getting set for its third move to a larger facility, this time a 40,000-square-foot building in the Howard County community of Maple Lawn. Complimenting the physical growth, QAI is expecting to generate around $14 million in gross revenue this year, about a 12 percent increase from last year. The booming growth has allowed QAI to venture into other fields, such as quality control and quality inspection for pharmaceutical and pesticide labs, while also vending for Fujitsu, Kodak and Visioneer. However, the biggest catch for QAI has been a contract with the National Institute of Health, a deal that signaled its latest growth boom.
“The physical sales are OK,” Swidersky said. “But what we really want is [to continue as] tech support.”
Swidersky sees the business continuing to grow, and has no intentions of slowing down. He?s looking to keep up the pace for at least another five to 10 years and plans to leave his sons the family business. Being so busy, there has to be someone to look after Swidersky. That falls to Linda Swidersky, who besides being Paul?s wife and co-worker, manages to find time to keep tabs on her husband.
“I have to keep the string on him sometimes, you know?” said Linda.
Paul Swidersky
» First job: Working for General Cigars Co. at age 18.
» Education/ credentials: Graduate of Penn State University in 1967 with a degree in electrical engineering, an associates of arts degree in respiratory therapy from Baltimore Community College and a business management degree from Shenandoah College.
» Best job perk: Working for himself and working with his family.
» Daily e-mails received: 80 to 100
» Daily voice mails received: About 10.
» Essential Web sites: Googling companies, clients, government agencies and checking his own Web site.
» Career objective: Grow the company as much as he can in the next five to 10 years.
» Hometown: Houtzdale, Pa.
» Birth date: Feb. 10, 1946
» Original aspirations: Start his own business.
» Sports/hobbies: Playing a little golf, fly fishing and camping trips.
