Peter Provenzano, 36

By Elizabeth Davies

When American forces ramped up efforts in Iraq several years ago, defense supplier Peter Provenzano found himself facing a new world of challenges: Loss of product. Loss of time. Loss of life.

“What are the risks?” the Rockford businessman asked. “You try to plan that to avoid loss of life and a minimal loss of product.”

Four years after Provenzano first made the call to send deliveries to U.S. forces in Iraq, his company continues to supply soldiers with everything from flashlights and tractors to sheet rock and tool boxes.

“We have to go where our troops go. That’s our business,” says Provenzano, a 36-year-old father of four. “It was a matter of business survival. We have a job to support our troops.”

SupplyCore has lost between $1.5 and $2 million in product in Iraq. The company has had to lean on Iraqi drivers to transport goods and has had a few employees injured, kidnapped and shot at.

These are concerns that his father, who founded SupplyCore in the 1980s, probably never dreamed of having. Albert Provenzano was a mechanical engineer by trade, and started the business to supply fasteners to the defense department.

Both Provenzano sons are now at the helm of SupplyCore. A few years after college, he took on the CEO role just in time to bring the company to new heights. “I thought there was potential,” Provenzano says. “It was moldable, a good opportunity, and I wanted to help the family.”

Provenzano has helped inch the company into the Internet age, establishing an online catalog and ordering center.

In 2000, with an annual revenue of $19million, the company was named for the first time to Inc. Magazine’s list of the country’s top 500 fastest-growing companies. Today, SupplyCore brings in about $120 million each year and has a staff of about 130 employees.

“We’re one of the few small businesses that’s capable of handling larger contracts,” Provenzano explains. “When you are small like this, with a lot of technical aptitude, you’re nimble and agile.We are able to stop on a dime and change direction.”

Provenzano is quick to credit his workers for the rise of his family business. “We’ve been successful at assembling a good, dynamic team,” he says. “We have an open communication style where everybody interacts and is comfortable expressing their opinion. At the end of the day, someone has to make the call, but you want as much input as possible.”

That’s precisely the attitude that caught the attention of LoRayne Logan, owner of Workplace Staffing, who has worked with Provenzano on some of his community efforts. He serves on the boards of Rockford College, Rockford Local Development Corp, Chicago Rockford International Airport, and heads the GSA Small Business Advisory Committee. He helped lead a capital campaign for the Burpee Museum of Natural History and Discovery Center Museum, and is part of the Community Education Partnership initiative.

“I’ve known and worked civically with Peter since 2005,” Logan says. “Peter is a successful leader because he understands timing, tenacity, prioritizing, listening and getting buy-in.

“I’m most impressed by the way in which he works with and through people. He has a unique way of respecting others, and making them feel significant.”