LARRY SMITH:
 
LARRY SMITH




 
 
 
 
 
President and CEO, BioGreen Solutions in Bloomfield Hills. Smith went into the decontamination business in 2008 to assist businesses and others with large living spaces in preventing odors and outbreaks. He then acquired Ridder Thermal, an environmentally friendly bed bug remediation program, now called BioGreen Thermal Solutions. The company added five employees and doubled business in 90 days. Sales for 2010 are anticipated to be more than seven times those in 2009, due to the bed bug crisis and the company’s sought-after environmentally friendly process. BioGreen developed a proprietary fogging process to treat surfaces and air in a facility to decontaminate and prevent outbreaks instead of reacting after contamination. Clients include hotels, daycare centers, doctors’ offices, and gyms. The company services major hotels across 14 states and expects to reach all 50 states within months. Smith also owns BioGreen Odor, which helped hotels prepare for Michigan’s smoking ban by treating rooms with a proprietary fogging process to clean and remove odor. Smith received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Morehead State University.


WHERE BORN: “Detroit.”

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: “My dad. I never worked with him but watched him and learned lessons through the fortune and misfortune of growing up in a blue collar home. I learned a work ethic at a very young age, and that carries you through life.”

LAST BOOK READ: “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. I have a book club I started years ago. It’s an interesting portrait of that time in history.”

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: “Curious, entrepreneurial, thoughtful.”

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: “It’s headed almost in a straight line up because we’re involved in two industries. One is thermal remediation of bed bugs. Bed bugs are an epidemic that can only be treated – it can’t be cured. That business is exploding. The other one is proactive decontamination and rodent control – it’s a great risk management tool. You reduce outbreaks instead of treating them after they happen.”

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: “The one I use every day of my life – my iPhone. I do love the GE HydroTrack System, which allows us to read room temps anywhere in the country in real time back in the office.”

FAVORITE PLACE: “Isle of Palms, South Carolina, and Maui.”

FAVORITE HOBBIES: “Reading, but it’s more of a pursuit; baseball; skiing; any sports with my kids.”

FAVORITE FOOD: “Tomato’s pizza.”

MY HIDDEN TALENT: “I can sneeze perfectly like Donald Duck.”

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: “As a guy who cared about his family first and foremost, his friends, and the people he worked with.”


Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.