When Elizabeth “Betsy” Perry told her dying husband she’d take over his welding equipment business, he told her to run it like she did their home.
And that’s what she did. Family values and trust have been at the heart of the way Perry runs Stanton-based Cameron Welding Supply, which sells welding and other industrial equipment.
Perry was one of five women honored at the Business Journal’s 14th annual Women in Business awards luncheon in Irvine on May 22.
Since taking over in 1980, Perry, now 87, has grown the company from a single shop of 10 workers to five locations with more than 65 employees.
She could have sold the business. But it was important for her to keep her husband Cameron’s dream alive, she said.
“This is what he loved,” Perry said.
The Perrys moved from San Francisco to Orange County in 1968 to start their business.
Cameron Welding sells to more than 3,000 customers, many of whom are restaurant operators such as McDonald’s Corp.’s franchisees and Walt Disney Corp., which uses the welding equipment to seal soft drink canisters.
It also sells oxygen and other gases to laboratory re-searchers and helium to balloon shops.
Last year Cam-eron did $16.5 million in revenue.
Before taking over, Perry, who was a rarity in the male-dominated business, knew little about selling welding gear and gases.
Some were skeptical, she said.
“At first my daughter thought I would paint all of the cylinders pink,” she joked.
Her determination led her to quit her job teaching English to high school students so she could give the business her full attention.
Perry’s husband used his experience at chemical maker Union Carbide Corp. to run the business.
Although Perry’s knowledge of the industry was limited, she never seemed to doubt what she was doing, according to Joe Churilla, who was a 27-year-old shop manager when Perry took over the business.
“I remember her taking me by the ear and saying ‘we’re going to do this,'” said Churilla, who now is president of the company.
Perry’s family way of doing business turned out to be the company’s greatest asset, he said.
Cameron prides itself on being personable and dependable.
Many of the employees have been with the company for a long time, including its operations and technology managers. Both have been with the company for 20 years, he said.
“Perry has been like a mom to me,” Churilla said. “The whole nature of how we do business is based on her.”
Churilla began working for Perry’s husband in high school when his first jobs were sweeping the floors and picking up after the shop’s guard dog.
The one thing that Perry attributes to staying in business: honesty.
“I’m very strict about this,” she said. “If you’re not honest, you don’t survive.”
Competition from larger companies such as France’s L’Air Liquide SA and Danbury, Conn.-based Praxair Inc. leaves little
room for mismanaging relationships,
she said.
Cameron is part of an alliance with 160 other smaller vendors called the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative. Members network with each other to compete with larger companies.
The alliance, which Perry once was president of, allows smaller suppliers to take on larger accounts by sharing them, according to Churilla.
Other Cameron products include safety equipment, apparel and tools. It has shops in Murrieta, Fontana, Palm Desert and Long Beach.
Perry gives to charities such as Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, The San Diego Zoo and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
