Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> October 11, 2004
DAVID S. GUTRIDGE is the Chief Executive Officer and a Board member of
the publicly traded MTC Technologies, Inc. His business career has
ranged from ownership/management/startup of his own companies to
executive positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer and Board member for two
Fortune 500 companies. In addition to his current CEO responsibilities,
his experience includes management of operating divisions, starting up
of new businesses, and turnaround situations for a diverse range of
service, manufacturing and distribution businesses, as well as
negotiation and financing of acquisitions and dispositions of
businesses, with sales prices ranging into the hundreds of millions of
dollars. Graduating first in his class at the Raj Soin College of
Business at Wright State University in 1969, Mr. Gutridge went on to
obtain his MBA from that same institution in 1971, the year he also
obtained his Ohio CPA certificate. He began his professional career with
Ernst & Young in 1970 where his experience included directing audits of
hospitals, foundations, manufacturers, restaurant chains and the
office's largest publicly held companies, including Dayco Corporation.
In 1976, he joined Dayco Corporation (later renamed Day International)
as Assistant Controller and progressed to Treasurer, to Senior Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer, to Executive Vice President and
Board member, to President and Chief Operating Officer over the next 10
years. After selling Dayco/Day to M.A. Hanna in 1987, he served as
President and COO for the bulk of the combined company and served on the
Hanna Board of Directors. During his first public company tenure, he
gained significant experience in operations management, strategic
planning, investor relations, major financings, acquisitions and
divestitures, information management and foreign exchange. He retired
from M.A. Hanna in 1988 and, after a month or two, started to buy and
form his own companies. Over the next five years he purchased two
companies and started two others. He still owns a real estate investment
firm that leases properties and re-vitalizes high-end waterfront
properties and he is an owner and the Chairman of the Board of a small
company that manufactures precision quartz tooling for the semi-
conductor business. In 1993, Mr. Gutridge teamed up with Raj Soin, a
Dayton, Ohio, entrepreneur, after the two met in connection with the
sale of a business to Mr. Soin. Working with MTC Technologies, Inc.
(then known as Modern Technologies Corp. or MTC) as Group President and
COO, he assumed responsibility for all manufacturing operations
including directing the startup of a new technology plastics business,
and the financing, acquisition and disposition activities for all seven
businesses that were affiliated with MTC at that time. In April 2002,
Modern Technologies, Inc., decided to become a public company and Mr.
Gutridge became the EVP and CFO and Board member for this company, in
preparation for its initial public offering in June 2002. Under the
guidance of Mr. Gutridge and others, the company went from making the
decision to go public to actually becoming a public company in 79 days,
a virtually unheard of feat. The IPO was noted as one of the top 10
IPOs of 2002 by Barron's. On October 3, 2003, Mr. Gutridge became Chief
Executive Officer of MTC Technologies, Inc. Profile
Mr. Gutridge: A real simple explanation would be: MTC is a provider of
systems engineering solutions to the federal government,
