Article

Who's Who: Tom Hannon

It's no wonder those who work for Tom Hannon, president and CEO of Hanco Systems, Inc., think of him as a father figure. Hannon's staff includes six of his offspring. His no-nonsense and demanding approach to business is balanced by a softer side.

August 30, 2001

You could almost say Tom Hannon is the Ward Cleaver of the ATM industry. His no-nonsense approach to business - not unlike Ward's strict fathering of Wally and the Beave -- belies a slightly softer, fatherly approach to the people who work for him, whether they're his children or not.

Yes, six of Hannon's seven children work forHanco Systems Inc.,the Peachtree City, Ga. ATM service and supply company he incorporated in 1995, and his wife Linda is the vice president of administration and human resources. And while everyone -- family or not -- has learned to never answer one of Hannon's questions with "I don't know," they also have learned that as long as they're thinking with their own minds, almost any answer is acceptable.

"He demands a lot from those who work at Hanco Systems," Linda said of her husband of 27 years, "but he is also generous to a fault with both his family members and employees. And they all know that. Each employee is treated like family here."

Son T.J., who is Hanco's vice president of marketing, added, "He's your typical entrepreneur; he believes very much in what he's doing. ... He's also usually the one grilling out for the company cookout."

Hannon most certainly is a proud father -- son Troy is Hanco's service network manager, son Todd runs the sales department, Travis works part-time in service (and recently passed his CPA exam on the first try) and daughters Tara and Tiffany work part-time for the company -- he just isn't likely to get all warm and fuzzy about it.

"When I formed the company," Hannon said, "I started to interview different people and discovered when I looked at my sons -- like T.J. taught sales and marketing at the college level, and Todd was working with individual contractors and government agencies -- that they were as good as anyone I was interviewing."

Not exactly warm and fuzzy, but Hannon does get excited when talking about his family and the family business. He's nearly as excited when talking about the rest of his crew and how Hanco works as a unit.

"I look to the team to propel the company to success. I'm in charge, but I rely on my managers. They have ultimate authority to try something new, dare to be different, take the chance," he said.

It might be that he sees a little of himself in his children and other employees at Hanco. Hannon is a free thinker who, after being moved around for several years in the 1960s as an assistant manager for Kmart, decided to set out on his own career path. He had no college degree, just a keen sense of how to do business and a lot of guts.

He started out in the construction business, then began to import construction equipment from Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. In the late 1980s, he began a credit card company, which is how he ultimately got involved in the ATM industry.

Today, Hanco Systems is profitable and still taking chances -- "We have no debt, so we can afford to take chances," Hannon asserts -- and last year moved into the burgeoning UK market.

The UK division of Hanco,Hanco ATM Systems Ltd.,is growing quickly with nearly 1,000 ATMs installed. "We're going into other parts of Europe at the end of the year. 2002 will be the big year," Hannon said.

It will be busy too. But not so busy that Hannon can't spend time becoming a gourmet chef or searching for antiques with his wife. Hey, even Ward found time to spend with June.

And one of his favorite pastimes, Hannon said, is "spoiling our little Yorkie, Roscoe. I call him our eighth child."

Hmm. Makes you wonder if Roscoe might just find himself on the Hanco payroll soon -- as long as he's a free thinker.