IT Hall Of Famer Izzy Schwab On D&H's Employee Owned Advantage, Why He Loves Distribution And The Secret To Maintaining A Fourth Generation Family Business

Secrets Of A Distribution CEO Titan

D&H Distributing CEO Izzy Schwab, who handed over the day-to-day reins to his co-president sons Dan and Michael Schwab nearly a decade ago, says his proudest moment is a decision 20 years ago to start the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at the company.

"The best thing I ever did was start the ESOP 20 years ago," said Schwab. "It is a people business. We can have all the warehouse equipment, computers and everything else, but people make the business go. Now that employees share in the success of the company it has really meant a great deal to the morale and the people here."

Schwab, who built the company into a nearly $4 billion national computer and software distributor power, says one of the key ingredients to the company's success, even as it has grown, is making sure that it does not lose that "family business mentality."