Centralight

25 centralight spring '14 When he graduated from CMU nearly 25 years ago with a degree in production operations management, Jim Kamsickas had fairly modest career aspirations. "I thought I'd be a plant manager," he says. Kamsickas, '89, has since climbed to the highest rung on the corporate ladder. Today he is the CEO of International Automotive Components, one of the largest privately held companies in Michigan. IAC, as the company is known, is based in Luxembourg but has its operational headquarters in Southfi eld, Mich., where Kamsickas has a panoramic view of a bustling southern Oakland County landscape from his corner offi ce. Under Kamsickas' leadership, the automotive interior supplier has grown from its startup in 2006 to become the third-largest privately held company in Michigan, with 90 locations and 28,000 employees worldwide. IAC posted record sales of $5.2 billion last year, up nearly 11 percent from $4.7 billion in 2012. Founded by billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr., IAC employed an unusual business model to become the 12th largest auto supplier in the country. Rather than acquire well-run, profi table companies, Ross decided to buy troubled companies, turn them around and take a leading role in the auto interiors business. Ross and Kamsickas formed IAC by acquiring the struggling interior systems business Lear Corp. and the auto carpeting and acoustics business Collins & Aikman, which ended up liquidating in bankruptcy. From there, IAC acquired 15 more distressed auto interior-related companies in a bid to become one of the biggest players in the industry. "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. We knew instantly that we needed to consolidate the industry," said Kamsickas, who worked at Lear for 18 years before Ross asked him to run IAC. "Our business plan was to shrink the number of companies in the interior business." Fewer competitors and a recovering industry have resulted in IAC riding a wave of prosperity. In an industry populated with executives educated at some of the most prestigious and best-known universities in the country, Kamsickas says his degree from Central has given him an edge in the business world. "I think graduating from a mid-major school makes you a little more hungry to go out and prove yourself," he says. "It makes you want to get up every morning and work a little harder than the average person." Kamsickas says CMU's curriculum in production operations management was a forerunner of what today is called supply chain management, one of the hottest fi elds for aspiring manufacturing executives. He calls his own management style "no ego, no politics" and says everyone in an organization must be treated with respect. "The new generation of workers doesn't respond well to the dictatorial leadership of the past," he says. "You can't have silos. You need everybody's input. "This is a complex business," Kamsickas says. The guy in the corner offi ce can't get it all done. All I am is the head coach." > Enterprising Businessman the PHOTO BY MELANIE MAXWELL "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." – Jim Kamsickas, '89

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