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Entrepreneur brings growing company home to the Americas
Most U.S. entrepreneurs with
global ambitions start at
home and then expand
abroad. New York native
Chris Fussner ’82 did the opposite.
“He’s like a fish swimming upstream,”
said Brian O’Leary ’96,
another T-bird who has worked
closely with Fussner since February
2012. “He found himself out there
at the right time and seized the opportunity.”
When Fussner got laid off from his
overseas job in 1989, he decided to
stay overseas and launch Trans-Tec, a
high technology equipment supplier.
“I got pushed off the plank into entrepreneurship,”
Fussner said. “It was
either succeed or swim home.”
Trans-Tec spread from its base in
Singapore to China, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam. Business
slowed in 2008 amidst a global economic
downturn, but Fussner made a
strategic decision not to reduce staff.
A Thunderbird logo adorns the ceiling near
a skylight at the Trans-Tec offi ce in Chandler,
Arizona.
“We’ll keep everybody on the
payroll,” he said in 2009. “So once
the wave comes back and people buy
again, we’ll be in full force and ready
to go.”
The gamble has paid off in recent
months, allowing Trans-Tec to
expand into Japan, Mexico and the
United States through a partnership
with Yamaha. Fussner hired O’Leary
to manage the North American business
from a new office in Chandler,
Arizona.
The proximity to Thunderbird is no
accident. A large Thunderbird logo
painted on the ceiling of the Chandler
office shows Fussner’s loyalty to
his MBA alma mater.
“Chris likes to come back here,”
O’Leary said. “He likes the area.”
Republican abroad
Chris Fussner stays active politically
as global chairman of Republicans
Abroad. He spoke on behalf of the group
during the 2012 Republican National
Convention in Tampa, Florida. Watch the
video: http://youtu.be/gpcf5hGhwes
TIM CLARKE
thunderbird magazine 59