News
2008 Best in Business Finalists: Rising Star
June 27, 2008
Birmingham Business Journal
Eric Hoffman
Don't let the age or circumstance fool you. Sure, Eric Hoffman is but a mere 27 years old, and yes, his mother Phyllis Hoffman is CEO to his COO.
Such considerations notwithstanding, young Eric is very much in command of his game. "I grew up around publishing, my whole life I have been around the business," he said.
The family-owned media company puts out consumer magazines like Cooking with Paula Deen and the upscale lifestyle publication Victoria, and is doing a bang-up job of it, too. Since joining the team in 2007, Hoffman has helped keep in motion a winning streak that brought revenues from $12 million in 2005 to $37 million last year.
Eric Hoffman has moved to keep up the momentum, spearheading an acquisition, assisting in forming a joint venture with Hearst Magazines and developing an internal Web team dedicated to growing the business through Web sites and e-commerce strategies.
A University of Alabama graduate, Hoffman did consulting work with Ernst & Young and put in some time on Wall Street prior to taking up a C-suite seat in the firm, rounding out a management team that previously included only a CEO and CFO.
As COO Hoffman oversees advertising, circulation, online efforts and production. He's brought with him some newfangled ideas about the way the industry is changing, along with the business savvy to sell those ideas among the rank and file.
"We're not in the magazine business as much as we are in the content business, and it has been a challenge to get people throughout the entire company to understand that change," said Hoffman, who holds frequent internal summits with thought leaders offering formal presentations.
He's always upfront with staff in discussing the competition laying in wait. "It becomes a lot more relevant when people start to understand what they are up against."
Gil Murdock
As COO of Reli Title Inc., 35-year-old Gil Murdock makes no bones about it - the housing slump has hurt.
"Things are certainly slower from a volume standpoint than they were two or three or certainly four years ago," said the Charlotte, N.C., native, who joined the firm five years ago.
Murdock has helped the title company ride out the slowdown in part by taking the firm beyond its core market of residential transactions and into the broader commercial title work. It has taken some finesse to succeed in this complicated change of venue.
"The deals are much more comprehensive in commercial work. There is a lot more technical expertise that is needed on these deals," he said. "You have different attorneys involved, you may have a couple of different lenders involved and between the buyers or the sellers there may be two or three LLCs that have been formed."
Murdock works hard to quarterback these deals, along with founder and CEO Kent Stewart.
The two work together outside the office, too, as developers of Reli's Kilimanjaro Children's Foundation,, which helps provide educational materials to underprivileged children in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. When Murdock first heard about the school there, the 55 students had only five pencils to share, no notebooks, just a blackboard and four pieces of broken chalk.
"We sit here in our fancy little business environment every day and we get so caught up in all these things that at the end of the day don't matter as much as things like the education of a child, especially when you look at the resources they have in that part of the world and what we have.
"It just helps me to stay focused on what is important."
Beck Taylor
Getting the money is only half the work. In 2007 the Samford School of Business took on its present name in recognition of a pledge by Compass Bank founder Harry B. Brock Jr. to help the school's endowment reach $100 million.
As dean and professor of economics for the Brock School of Business at Samford University, Beck A. Taylor was thrilled to get the money.
But that's only half the work, right?
The heavy lifting came with the effort to re-brand and reposition a well-known and already successful institution.
"We had a very solid brand and all of a sudden we were presenting ourselves with a different focus, a different trajectory, a different set of expectations in the community," Taylor said.
It's a challenge Taylor has cheerfully embraced.
Throughout the name change process he convened repeated meetings with Brock, faculty, students, alumni and the business community.
"All of those helped to inform our strategic plan," he said.
While the mission has not drastically altered, the school does have a tighter focus on entrepreneurship.
"Harry Brock really believes in entrepreneurship as the lifeblood of our country and our economy," Taylor said.
Taylor himself believes in wearing many hats. Besides serving as dean, he also teaches regularly, conducts academic research and writes professionally.
Plus he leads an adult Sunday school class at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
"My spiritual life is very important to me, and in many ways drives a lot of the passion with which I approach my professional life," he said.