Bahman Teheri
About this Executive:
Name:
Bahman Teheri
Company:
AlphaMicron
Interview Topics:
Polymers and Advanced Materials
Region:
Region 9 - Northeast Ohio
I recently had an opportunity to speak with Bahman Taheri, CEO and founder of AlphaMicron. This is a cutting-edge company that is pioneering the application of polymer technology in the world of fashion. AlphaMicron is utilizing liquid crystals for color changing garments and light sensitive eye wear. Soon, the company's products will be found in the cockpits of U.S. fighter planes as well as in haute couture in Paris. The work at AlphaMicron is just one example of why Ohio is a leading state in both polymer research and application.
Q: In Ohio, our promise is that executives and their employees can achieve their professional and personal aspirations without having to sacrifice one for the other. Are you finding this to be an authentic statement?
A: Absolutely. There are three areas I would highlight in my answer—1) financial partnership, 2) excellent labor pool, and 3) access to the marketplace. The Ohio Department of Development offers a number of programs to help share risk and has been excellent to work with. There is a strong, supportive infrastructure in place that includes organizations like NorTech that make the business environment friendly for entrepreneurs. In addition, I have been very impressed with the quality of the labor pool available for employment. We have been fortunate enough to form a close relationship with Kent State University and many of our employees have either graduated from the institution or have had an affiliation with it. We hire engineers, scientists and artists as well as classic business people. We are able to find and successfully recruit hardworking, genuine and truly innovative talent across a variety of disciplines. Finally, Ohio's location and transportation infrastructure has helped AlphaMicron create a global book of business. To achieve our commercial aspirations, we need to serve the world's consumers and having our company in Ohio will help us deliver our growth projections.
Q: You indicated most of AlphaMicron's sales will be to customers outside of Ohio. Have you found the new Ohio tax structure to be helpful in competing in the global market?
A: I was really pleased to learn that in Ohio, only sales to companies within Ohio are subject to the commercial activity tax. This will be increasingly important as AlphaMicron's sales outside of Ohio continue to grow. I also like the fact that the first $1 million in annual gross receipts are not taxed. This is a big help to entrepreneurial companies and frees up additional revenue for reinvestment in company expansion. This is partly why I believe Ohio is a business friendly state.
Q: In addition to offering everything needed to grow a successful business, the Ohio promise speaks to allowing you to achieve your personal aspirations. Is this part of the promise authentic as well?
A: I believe it is. Throughout my career, I've lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London. All are great entertainment cities. But in reality, taking advantage of many of the opportunities can be limited because of issues like traffic and cost. I found nothing was easy to access and everything required a significant investment of time to enjoy. For example, when I lived in San Francisco, if I wanted to go out for a cup of coffee at, say, Starbucks or Peet's Coffee, I'd have to invest 10 minutes getting the kids ready and into the car, 20 minutes to get to the coffee shop, 10 minutes to get served, 20 minutes to drive back home, and a few more minutes to get the kids out of the car. Before I knew it, I had invested an hour to simply have a cup of coffee. In the city I live now, a short 5-minute walk with the kids on their bikes and I am at the same coffee shop. And to top it off, I will have passed by my neighbors who know who I am.
Ohio gives me the gift of time to invest in life's simple pleasures and in the most important priority in my life—my family. I can spend quality time with them and I can make a difference in their lives. You can imagine how much extra time saving one hour of driving a day gives you. This is more time to spend with your family, not to mention less aggravation from being stuck in traffic.
As for my children's education, the city we live in is consistently ranked among the nation's top for secondary education. Also, the lower cost of living allows me the flexibility to send my children to private school (if needed) and have enough money to enroll them in other after school activities like piano lessons or horseback riding class. I think that I can give my children a more well rounded education and better prepare them for the life ahead of them.
Q: Don't you give up exposing your children to culture as they grow up?
A: No. Ohio has outstanding cultural opportunities. In Cleveland, we have the world-class Cleveland Orchestra, the Playhouse, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Art Museum, Science Museum and the Inventors' Hall of Fame, among many other attractions. We also have professional baseball, basketball and football events practically in our back yard. We have at our disposal all the big city amenities without the big city issues like crime and traffic.
When we lived in San Francisco, I never found time to enjoy the sights like Alcatraz. When we moved to Ohio, we took a trip back to San Francisco to visit friends and I went to visit Alcatraz for the very first time. Anything culturally I can't get in Ohio that I want my children to see, we see as tourists. The time and cost savings by living in Ohio allows us to take meaningful family trips to places such as Europe or the east and west coasts. Cleveland's airport makes it easy to fly to any destination we want because it's the hub for Continental. In fact, we are a short one-hour trip to New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Toronto and many other places.
Q: How important do you feel the work-life balance Ohio offers is to your business?
A: It has an enormous positive impact on the bottom line. At AlphaMicron, we hire high quality scientists and engineers who often get recruited by other companies. But they choose to stay with AlphaMicron because of the work-life balance they are able to enjoy.
To illustrate this point, we have scientists working at our company who go home every day to have lunch with their family. The close proximity of things in Ohio and the ease with which you can travel between places makes a meaningful difference in people's lives. They would not be able to have the type of relationship they do with their children if they lived in some of the places they could have chosen for employment. It would simply not be practical and in many cases not even possible.