Management Team

Praxis Engineering Technologies Inc. is outgrowing its office space in Annapolis Junction, even though most of its 200-plus employees are offsite, “embedded” with various contractors and clients. Praxis' staff has grown 350 percent since the firm's founding in 2002. In the past 12 months the company made 65 new hires, and it plans to hire an additional 75 people over the next year. In theory, having a staff so spread out could make it hard to establish a company culture, but that's not the case at Praxis, say workers and management.

Rent-A-Wreck rewards its turnaround teamRent-A-Wreck of America Inc., the Owings Mills-based used car rental company, has taken a financial U-turn to better times and its top management is going along for the ride.In the three years since Rent-A-Wreck brought in new management, its operations have gone from $400,000 in the red to $500,000 in the black.Due to this success, the company's board of directors said yesterday that it is extending by five years its management agreement with the father-and-son team of K.A.B.

MANY COMPANIES talk up the goal of hiring a diversified top management team -- while silently questioning what's in it for them.A new study released by the American Management Association has come up with a promising answer that links corporate diversity to a better bottom line. The association survey of 1,087 firms found that companies with more diverse management teams tend to perform better than businesses whose executives conform to the "white, male, over-40 model."The survey stops short of suggesting that diverse management teams, which include women and workers from a range of racial backgrounds, are directly responsible for higher profits.

Baltimore school officials have told a federal judge they expect the state to pay for a new team tasked with fixing the city's special-education system, an expense they said will be more than originally projected. City administrators also want state education leaders to develop a work plan that would include goals to measure the team's performance and determine when it is no longer needed, a motion filed in federal court Friday shows. The motion comes after an Aug. 12 order by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis created an eight-member management team to oversee instruction of the district's 15,000 special-education students.

Joe De Francis has completed "his dream team."Yesterday the Laurel/Pimlico operator officially announced the hiring of John E. Mooney, whom he called "a fan's general manager," to become senior vice president and general manager at his Maryland thoroughbred tracks starting Aug. 1.Mooney, general manager at Delaware Park, developed a loyal fan base at the Staunton, Del., oval and, to the amazement of many observers, has kept the plant operating for eight...

New Positions USi names Mucchetti chief operating officer USi hired Stephen A. Mucchetti to the newly created position of chief operating officer of the Annapolis company, which provides business software and other services over the Internet. Mucchetti previously was chief executive of Scient Inc. and general manager for International Business Machines Corp.'s Global Telecommunications & Media Solutions unit. Mucchetti is responsible for USi's day-to-day operations with a focus on enhancing USi's services and developing new operating strategies.

1990 was a bad year for Barnet Annenberg and his downtown Baltimore graphics company. Sales were in a slump, and clients were going out of business. He overspent on office renovations. He couldn't pay bills on time, and suppliers began to cut him off. His bookkeeper was so harried that she didn't even have time to calculate the extent of the cash hemorrhage.When the year ended, he was $150,000 in the hole and on the verge of bankruptcy.Drastic action was needed to save Maran Graphic Specialties Inc., the 63-year-old company Mr. Annenberg's father started.

WHEN A BUSINESS falls apart, its leaders need to take extreme steps to restore prosperity. Take what happened, for instance, at Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. Near bankruptcy in 1990, directors called in a turnaround specialist who slashed payroll and hired a new management team -- and watched profits return. The Baltimore Orioles are no different. Major League baseball is big business. When losses mount for three straight years and paying customers angrily complain, it's time for a dramatic turnaround.

Peter Bepler and Matt Voorhees started their tech company the dot-com way: over a keg of beer in a parking lot during alumni weekend at Kenyon College. But when it came time to expand the business, the pair needed more seasoned executives. "We saw that this company had tremendous potential, and we needed to bring in experienced and proven leadership to fill that potential," said Bepler. Enter Chief Executive Officer Dennis Hooks and Vice President of Sales Bart Hawe. With years of experience in the business world, Hooks and Hawe had just the know-how that Bepler, 28, and Voorhees, 30, needed for their 2-year-old Rockville-based online accounts payable outsourcing company, Anybill Financial Services Inc. Experience was a prevailing theme yesterday at the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association's Capital Connection 2003, where start-ups seeking investments showcase their businesses for venture capitalists.

And now: "Chuck 2: The Sequel."The Charles, the plucky little art theater in the 1700 block of North Charles Street, will reopen March 10 under a new local management team that hopes to continue its old policies."