150-Year-Old Charleston Firm Keeps Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive

By Mike Switzer

Published September 16, 2015 at 5:23 AM EDT

While 2015 marks the 150^th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, it also represents the same milestone for our next guest's company, which began that year (1865) in Charleston, SC as a supplier of building materials to rebuild the South. And he attributes the company's long-term success to it's ability to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit of it's founder.

Mike Switzer interviews MaybankHagood, CEO and third-generation executive of William M. Bird & Co.

Tags

South Carolina Business Review business news

Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

See stories by Mike Switzer