COMPANY OF THE YEAR
(100 or more employees)
The Newtron Group
YEAR FOUNDED: 1973
EMPLOYEES: 2,500
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
• Recipient of the first Douglas Manship Sr. Torch Award for Business Ethics, presented by the Better Business Bureau of South Central Louisiana in 2001
• Ranked No. 3,341 on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the country and No. 122 in the construction industry in 2010
• Ranked as the No. 12 electrical contractor in the country by the Magazine of Electrical Design, Construction & Maintenance in 2011 and No. 14 by Engineering News-Record
In a region where the petrochemical industry is as prominent as it is anywhere else in the world, operating under the radar might seem like a major challenge for a company that generated $315 million in revenue in 2010.
The Newtron Group, however, is an exception. The company, created 39 years ago when founder Newton Thomas set out to establish a successful family-oriented business that employees wanted to work for, has been exceptional in a lot of ways.
Thomas was working at Southern Instruments in 1973, when he launched Newtron, a union instrumentation contractor. Nine years later, he formed Triad Electric & Controls to handle nonunion electrical and instrumentation construction. The Newtron Group was created as a holding company for the union and nonunion arms.
Eventually, Newtron Group spawned several subsidiary companies, including one to manage the national projects that are outside of the local Triad and Newtron offices, and became one of the country’s largest industrial electric and instrumentation providers.
Through its family of companies, Newtron Group works with refineries, power generators, mining and semiconduction. There now are offices in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Ocean Springs, Miss., Houston, Corpus Christi and Nederland, Texas, and Martinez, Calif., with the bulk of its 2,500 employees along the Gulf Coast.
“Baton Rouge and Louisiana are cornerstones of the industry we work in and around, and this is where we got our start,” says Bruce Beard, Newtron Group president, who has been friends with Thomas for 35 years. “Our Baton Rouge operations were definitely the springboard for our development and our growth, and it’s a big reason we are who we are today.”
As the worlds of electronics and petrochemical engineering have become intertwined, Newtron Group has evolved into a company that—quietly—is regarded as an industry leader. And befitting its No. 8 ranking on Business Report’s Top 100, it’s also become one of the most lucrative and successful companies in the Capital Region.
From its humble beginnings, Newtron Group has reached this point in its history exactly the way Thomas envisioned: on the strength of employees who are loyal because they are treated like family and rewarded for their hard work. For example, John Schempf, president of NGI National Constructors, has worked for the company for 18 years. His father, Duff Schempf, has been there for 35 years.
The appeal to work with his dad was so strong for John Schempf growing up that he attended LSU specifically to earn an electrical engineering degree.
“It was painful because I had to work really hard to get through that,” he says, with a laugh. “But I had my mind set on working for Newton and was going to do whatever I had to do to achieve that goal.”
Newtron Group’s allure was evident. Schempf saw a company where employees thrived and wanted to work. There are obvious benefits. Thomas annually distributes more than 50% of the company’s net income back to the employees through a bonus program.
But the relationship goes much deeper than financial incentives.
“There are a lot of companies that like to talk about how they have a family atmosphere and treat their employees like owners, but there are very few who actually do it like Newton does,” Schempf says. “He has instilled an atmosphere of ownership where employees feel like everything they do will have an impact to the bottom line of the company.”
Therein lies the prestige of being recognized as one of the top businesses in the Capital Region; it also was named Business Report’s Company of the Year in 1990.
Newtron Group does its fair share of work along the Gulf Coast, but it shares the market with other better-known competitors. Still, the area can see the positive impact that the company has had through the years.
David Funes oversees marketing and also is in sales for NGI’s national group. He has been with the company four years, noting that the quiet nature of Thomas and Beard typifies the way that Newtron Group goes about its business.
Funes says he recently was speaking to a friend who also knew Beard.
“He asked me what exactly Bruce did with the company, and when I told him he was the president he was pretty shocked,” Funes says. “He couldn’t believe somebody so down-to-earth was in charge of a $300 million company.”
Funes says the one branch of the company that is most recognizable is Executive Aviation, Newtron Group’s only nonconstruction subsidiary, which provides hangar space, fuel and aviation supplies for private planes at Metro Airport.
“I have people tell me all the time they see our name on that and they think that’s who we are,” he says. “We’re a pretty quiet bunch, but we’re proud of the work we do.”
Like Thomas, Beard operates with the philosophy that the company’s employees are the most valuable commodity, and keeping them happy is near the top of his to-do list.
Characteristically, Beard views recognition as one of the Capital Region’s best businesses as reflective of a successful cooperative effort.
“It’s very important to us because it gives our employees a sense that we’re doing things in the right way and we are working by the values we intend to work by every day,” he says. “It makes us feel good that the community where we live and work thinks highly enough of us to give us an honor like this.”
Whether or not the community is aware, the relationship between it and the company is very much a two-way street.
“Newton’s vision for employees and the community is to be able to extend his legacy within the company and the business world,” Beard says. “The intent is that upon his death or before, if he so elects, the actual ownership of the company will transfer to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. When that happens, the employees will be tasked with the management and the operation of the company, and then the profits from the company are shared with the employees as well as the Baton Rouge Area Foundation for community good works and for services for the underprivileged.”
When that plan kicks in, Thomas plans to contribute 10% of his company’s profits to charities, most of them in and around the Capital Region. His plan also will ensure that his legacy perseveres. And that seems much more important to Newtron Group’s image than any acclaim or attention.
“I think that validates Newton’s philosophy,” Funes says. “Newton Thomas is all about giving back. He’s done that for his employees for 39 years, and he’ll do it for years to come.”
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