MeritDirect Event Panel Heading Back to the Future, Part 1

Jukes: How has your business held up this year?

Runke: We had our best year ever in 2007 — grew 26 percent and planned for the same last year. Then the recession showed up, and we had a really bad year. We recognized signs of what was coming in May (2008). I panicked in June, got together with our majority owner and said, "We have to act now," and he kept his ego out of the scenario. So we downsized, eliminating 25 percent of our staff and redid our supporting infrastructure.