Ellicott president Peter Bowe was recently selected as SmartCEO's Baltimore CEO of the Year. Although there were many candidates for the award, SmartCEO explains why Bowe was the most impressive:
"Since arriving at Ellicott Dredges in the early 1980s, Bowe has patiently and steadily led Ellicott Dredges through tough business cycles, ownership transition, foreign political unrest, crashing capital markets and changing trends in manufacturing and dredge usage worldwide. Not only did he revive the company when it was on the brink of extinction, he rebuilt it into the dominant player in the dredge business. Today, with 250 employees, the 129-year-old company is one of the world’s oldest, largest and most successful dredge manufacturers; it proudly delivers a “Made in America” product to the world and sets the standard for the local, national and global manufacturing industry. For these impressive achievements and more, SmartCEO honors him as our 2014 Baltimore CEO of the Year."
Peter's leadership was also acknowledged by those outside the industry. Ellicott counsel Eric Orlinsky of Saul Ewing LLP stated:
“As a leader, I see Peter as very fair-minded, calm, and even-handed. I have on several occasions seen him give people second chances. And I think his employees respect him tremendously for that and for all that he has accomplished. Peter was able to take a 125-year-old manufacturing company from the verge of insolvency to a now-thriving company. In doing so, he saved a considerable number of manufacturing jobs for the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland, and he has been able to build Ellicott into an acquirer of other dredging companies around the globe."
When asked for his reaction to being named CEO of the year, Bowe responded, "I am thrilled I have survived to the point where I could even be considered."
But in his career, Bowe has done much more than simply survive. He’s testified before Congress more than 10 times, he’s penned op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the Baltimore Sun, he serves as a board member of the World Trade Center Institute, and he’s been winning business awards for years — all in the name of furthering Ellicott Dredges’ prospects, but also in the support of American manufacturing and American exporters in general.
About Ellicott Dredges
Founded in 1885, Ellicott is the world’s oldest and largest builder of medium-sized cutter suction dredges. It built all of the dredges used in the original construction of the Panama Canal and ever since then has focused on the world market for cutter dredges. Ellicott's dredges are used for sand mining, harbor and navigation maintenance, water reservoir restoration, river and channel dredging, beach restoration and erosion control, and environmental clean-ups to name a few. For more information, visit www.dredge.com.
