A longtime Louisville business spent 2021 shaking things up in order to hit new goals in terms of revenue growth. Louisville Tile Distributors, a 67-year-old family business, has dedicated the last year to achieving maximum growth potential. The firm has established a new executive leadership team, expanded its reach nationally as well as locally, and hit a record in annual revenue, while also investing in technology. Louisville Tile appeared on
Louisville Business First’s Fast 50 list last year with 2020 revenue of $86 million. It topped that in 2021 with record revenue of $93.5 million. CEO Matt Saltzman said one of the company’s goals is to reach $200 million in revenue in the next five-to-six years. The growth has come from Louisville Tile putting more of an emphasis into its sales program, Saltzman said. The company had a record first quarter for earnings and added revenue for 2022.
Another part of the growth plan included bringing on new leadership and promoting from within. Saltzman officially took the top spot as CEO in January 2022 (more on him below).
Robert DeAngelis and Bob Knabel previously served as CEO and chief financial officer, respectively, before the company’s transformation. DeAngelis left the company in December 2020 and Knabel left after tax season in 2021, Saltzman said.
DeAngelis now serves as the commercial national account manager at Schluter Systems in Tampa, Florida, according to his LinkedIn profile. Knabel is the principal at the Kentucky branch of FocusCFO, the company’s website said. Saltzman said both individuals had other opportunities, and they and the board of directors came to a mutual agreement about the change in leadership. The company is still 100% family-owned.
Matt Saltzman officially took over as CEO of Louisville Tile in January 2022.
Other new additions to the executive team are Walter “Dub” Newell as chief financial officer; Adam Beck as chief operating officer; Crosby Hall as executive vice president of corporate resources; and Don Kincaid as senior vice president of sales. Hall is the granddaughter of the company’s founder Jud Wilcox, who first started Louisville Tile in 1955.
Prior to coming on board at Louisville Tile, Saltzman served as a partner of Strothman and Co., specifically as director of Strothman Strategic Advisory Services. That division of the company came from a 2018 merger between Strothman and Co. and Pallas Partners Inc., of which Saltzman founded.
Strothman and Co. continues to provide its Strategic Advisory Services division, the company’s website shows.
Louisville Tile was a client of Saltzman’s at Strothman and Co., which was his first introduction to the company. He said the strong partnership led to more communication and collaboration between Louisville Tile leaders and Saltzman, and a plan to reposition the company for further growth formed.
The tile distributor provides ceramic til eand setting materials from a variety of different manufacturers to residential and commercial customers. It operates12 branches in five states: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. It employs 220 people companywide and about 80 to 90 people locally, Saltzman said.
Locally, Louisville Tile has two operations — one at 4520 Bishop Lane and one at 1201 Herr Lane — and just expanded into a third. It took over a 3,800-square-foot facility across the street from the Bishop Lane location, which will house the support team and a training center.
Construction on that property was completed earlier this year, and Saltzman said a significant investment of more than $100,000 was spent on the buildout. Flynn Brothers Contracting completed the work.
Saltzman said the company wanted to take advantage of local people and resources to help with Louisville Tile’s evolution. Many people have been promoted from within the company to its senior leadership team, including Travis Wilcox, also a descendant of founder Jud Wilcox, as vice president of national accounts. The company has also connected with internship programs through the University of Louisville.
“We were really focused on how we can support a local community because there’s so much talent and resources here,” Saltzman said. “We can get everything we need to really become a powerful regional company by using local resources.”
Louisville Tile began investing heavily in technology resources, as well. It has launched a partnership withSalesforce.com, a company that provides customer relationship management software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, analytics and application development.
Some of the new technology includes a series of dashboards for all leaders to get a better understanding of the company’s analytics and financial information. Louisville Tile has retained and brought new analysts to process the information and use it to push the company toward
efficiency.
The company is one of Louisville Business First’s Family Business Award honorees in the Large Business of the Year category.
“This is about a family that’s investing into the business to be able to have multiple generations in the future,” Saltzman said.
