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Bio:
MINCO Technology Labs, Inc. is a world-class leader in providing highly reliable semiconductor devices to markets such as medical, military, and space electronics industry. MINCO is thought of by many of the companies in these industries as the primary source for semiconductor products. For example, besides unencapsulated or ?bare? die that range from a simple switching diode to an advanced microprocessor, we provide an array of solutions for packaged parts. MINCO will efficiently tailor visual inspection or qualification solutions that economically meet the needs of our customers.
MINCO was founded in Northridge, California in July of 1981. On August 17, 1981, the day MINCO opened for business, Beckman Instruments placed the first official order totaling $1500. At that time, MINCO consisted of a table, chair, telephone, a microscope, 2250 square feet of space and four Team Members. Those four Team Members were Liz Coker, founder and CEO; Don Potter, her son and MINCO?s President; Rebecca Shackelford, her daughter and Vice President of MINCO?s Tennessee facility; and a long-time friend who has since retired.
In December of 1982, MINCO relocated to Austin to escape the high taxes, crowds and the high cost of doing business in California. MINCO grew rapidly to a building of 35,000 square feet, a facility in Tennessee and well over
10 million dollars in annual sales.
Over the years, MINCO has received recognition in numerous areas, including:
National Subcontractor of the Year - U. S. Small Business Administration
The Blue Chip Enterprise Award - Connecticut Mutual and U S Chamber of Commerce
Entrepreneur of the YearAward:Liz Coker - Ernest and Young
Highest Achievement in Quality Award - City of Austin
Texas Private Business of the Year - Texas Association of Businesses & Chamber of Commerce
Texas Small Business Person of the Year:Liz Coker - U.S. Small Business Administration
Community involvement:
Liz Coker believes giving back to the community is part of her responsibility as a successful entrepreneur. She is on the Board of the University of Texas Center for Performance Excellence. She serves on the Board of the March of Dimes Walk America, having chaired the March of Dimes Walk America for two years.
Liz has been involved in the past on several Non-Profit Boards including Seton NW Hospital, Priority Associates, as well as the Board of Quality Texas. In addition, Liz served on the Advisory Board of Frost Bank.
Person most admired:
My hero is Al Stein, retired CEO of VLSI Technology. Al, former VP and Division Manager at Texas Instruments where I began my career in semiconductor sales, recognized and encouraged my interest and ability to work directly with our customer although I worked on the production line at the time. He continued to be my mentor during my employment with TI. I appreciated and valued Al?s open and candid advice and his critiques as well, and I still value his advice. When I started MINCO in 1981, Al Stein requested the opportunity to be a stockholder and to serve on our Board of Directors. He currently is a member of our board.
Favorite book:
My favorite book is the Holy Bible. MINCO?s values and leadership philosophy has always been based on the book of Proverbs. No other business book was written that better influences my leadership style and the direction of my business.
What I enjoy most about my work:
I love working with people and I am proud of the environment at MINCO where people and customers work together to create excellence. I have a passion for our customers and making customer visits throughout the United States and International locations are extremely important to my work. I find it rewarding to see the successful work of our leadership team and Team Members.
Greatest accomplishment:
Starting MINCO is without a doubt my greatest accomplishment. I love working with my family and I value having my children working with me every day. Having the team that we have at MINCO and seeing their personal successes is very rewarding.
Greatest challenge:
My greatest challenge has been dealing with the downturn in the semiconductor market over the past two years. I have learned that while my team is very important to me and I believe that we will be an even closer team as we come out of this downturn, that there are times when one person has to make the difficult decisions. Keeping a financial focus during this challenging market is vital to continued stability
Advances I envision in my field over the next 10 years:
The market that we are in is really the after market of the semiconductor industry. We primarily work with product that the major manufacturers have discontinued in the
Hi- Reliability area. As a result, MINCO has to be ready to respond to whatever line that becomes available in the marketplace. This may involve the purchase of new equipment and new technology to us, resulting in the need for different engineering strategies.
Strategies to maintain balance in my life:
I?m very involved in my church and in Priority Associates. My faith life is a balance in all that I do. I enjoy my ranch and I love gardening and cooking. Having my family working near me is wonderful. It affords me the opportunity of having them as part of the balance of my work life.
Advice for emerging entrepreneurs:
Starting MINCO and the way business is conducted today are so different. My advice is to set your goals and ?go for it.? Don?t analyze it to death, just persevere. I believe building business relationships with customers and suppliers is crucial to the success of my business. Evaluate the measures you have in place to determine the results and success of your business. Make your goals and go for it!
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