Co-Founder, President

While they were running a trial on a paper-making pilot line, Steve asked Bryan, “Someday, we ought to do this. Don’t you think?” Fifteen years later, Hoescht Celanese spun off Steve’s division, and time arrived to seize their dream to “own and operate an independent R&D organization where we are our own bosses.” Twenty years and 20 patents later, they have fulfilled that original vision. Self-funded from day one, their business grew via word of mouth every year—despite the economic hardships of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008-09 recession.

Unlike the peppers Bryan grows, there’s never been a problem too hot to handle. “We’ve never believed that we can’t do something,” said Bryan. “It’s that attitude upon which the success of SENW was built, and on which it continues to grow.”