June 9, 2014
Central Mass Family Business Awards 2014: Access TCA, Whitinsville
From left: Brendan Yag, director of operations; Amy Yag Sondrup, managing director; and Michael
C. Yag, president and CEO.
Leadership and responsibility come at a young age for members of the Yag family.
Michael Yag was just 27 when, on a whim, he sold his New Hampshire home and used the proceeds to launch a firm that would infuse marketing principles into a trade show industry fixated solely on design.
Three decades later, the weight of Access TCA, which offers businesses marketing products ranging from trade show exhibits to road show products to permanent lobby displays, rests largely on the shoulders of Yag's three children, each of whom is overseeing a major portion of the 150-person company before they turn 30.
Michael Yag's first experience with trade exhibits came soon after graduate school, when he took floppy disks to trade shows as part of Polaroid's salesforce. He found that virtually all trade show companies were managed by carpenters or designers who were unable to measure trade show sales or return on investment.
“I can't be the only marketing guy that's asking these questions,” Yag recalled thinking.
So in 1985, he drove to Milford — centrally located among New England's six major metropolitan areas —grabbed a newspaper and spotted a large advertisement touting “tremendous amount of space — cheap.” One day later, he was signing a lease in Whitinsville for 9,000 square feet in a decaying former textile mill.
Yag used the $60,000 from the sale of his home to launch Access with five employees.
The company would differentiate itself from competitors by focusing on cost effectiveness, return on investment and training vendors in how to sell to potential clients in just a few seconds.
Access expanded 17 times in its first five years into empty parts of its Whitinsville building. Today, it occupies 225,000 square feet at 1 Main St., as well as large facilities in Atlanta and Las Vegas.
As Access grew, so did Yag's family. His oldest child, Amy, was born six months before the company's founding; siblings Brendan and Bryan were born during the company's early days.
Early indoctrinations
Michael, now 56, talked regularly about work at the dinner table while the children were growing up, said Amy, now 29, and all three kids spent summers sweeping floors or helping out around the office.
Brendan, now 27, loved driving the forklift as a teen and working with the guys in the shop. He joined Access immediately after graduating from college in 2009. Now he's director of operations overseeing about 50 workers.
Bryan, 25, also joined Access straight out of college and, like Michael, loves selling products. He's an account director and the company's highest-ranking employee working out of Atlanta.
Amy remained the toughest sell.
She always pictured herself raising a family in Salt Lake City and working as a history professor.
Amy had already received a master's degree in history when, during a 2010 visit to Access, the company's then-chief financial officer said he'd like to retire and that Michael needed her in Whitinsville.
Her transition from the theoretical debates of academia to the wheeling and dealing of a company boardroom proved surprisingly easy.
“You don't realize you learn by osmosis every day,” Amy said. “I've been here my whole life, even though I chose to study something different.”
Today, Amy is Access's managing director and oversees at least 85 workers across five departments.
All three kids also have a significant other working at Access either full or part time, Michael said.
Michael said his kids must work harder and longer than anyone else and occasionally defer to more experienced colleagues to earn respect in the workplace and combat perceptions of nepotism.
“It's important that they (my children) create value for the company,” he said.
Tuesday morning feedback
Every Tuesday morning, Michael holds a conference call with just his three kids — and a member of the company's board of directors — to provide mentorship and guidance.
Amy said she starts each day at 5:30 a.m. by checking her email and doesn't log off until at least 10:30 p.m. With just three years at Access, she's aware she doesn't know everything about the business and isn't afraid to consult the best and brightest.
“The leadership of this company is a collection of bright minds,” she said. “It's not a dictatorship.”
And there's plenty of room for upward mobility for Access employees who aren't part of the Yag family, Amy said.
One day, she hopes to run day-to-day operations as Access' president while Michael focuses on the company's strategic vision as its chairman and CEO.
Michael said he plans to stay involved in some capacity, but hopes to eventually have his kids take over.
“I know for a fact that this business can survive without me,” he said.
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