Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Burstein.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Upon graduation from college (Emory University) in 1998, I joined Accenture as a technology consultant. Two years later, my father called and asked if I would like to join his new apparel manufacturing company based in Hialeah. I accepted the offer and moved to New York to run sales and product development.
The business grew quickly with revenue doubling every year. Ultimately, we sold the company to a large, multi-national fashion brand. This occurred just as NAFTA was passed, so I opened apparel manufacturing plants in Merida, Mexico. This venture was successful until 2001 when it became impossible to compete with Chinese imports. So I shut the company.
In 2002, I joined NGC as a sales director. We had just launched a new product, e-SPS, directed at fashion companies which designed and sold products in the USA but imported them from Asia. The business grew quickly and e-SPS became NGC’s flagship product. In 2010, I was promoted to president in charge of sales and development, while Fred Isenberg was promoted to president of NGC consulting.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My career path has been mostly smooth, but there have been some unanticipated curves and potholes along the way. The biggest career-changing event occurred when I needed a large production order to keep my factories busy until the next season’s production began. The order was for one million units and was the perfect product for my factories to make. I met with the head merchant for a large fashion retailer. I begged him to give the order to me, but instead, he showed me the price that he was landing it from China. His landed price was over a dollar less than my cost to make it. I shut down the business the following week.
Please tell us about NGC Software.
NGC Software was started in 1982 by an ex-IBM executive, Alan Brooks. He wrote the software to run a large apparel company, and when it went out of business, he started NGC with the software he had written. The customer base grew from local to regional to national to international over the next two decades. In 1998, NGC was purchased by American Software and continued operations as a wholly-owned subsidiary. As the business grew internationally, the teams also spread far beyond USA borders. Currently, NGC teams include members from 28 different countries and NGC has offices throughout the world.
NGC differs from its competitors in many ways, but the most important is the company’s unrelenting focus on customer satisfaction. The average tenure for an NGC employee is over 15 years, and the entire staff realizes that our business begins and ends with happy customers. The fashion business is concentrated into a few global marketplaces such as New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Paris, and Milan. When a software company has a string of failed projects or does not make sure that their customers’ problems are adequately solved, word spreads like wildfire and its reputation tanks. It’s only a matter time until its demise. NGC celebrated its 35th anniversary this year. That milestone, more than anything else, speaks volumes about the culture of the NGC team.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Growing up in Stuart, Florida, I enjoyed a lot of freedom as a child. Stuart was a very safe, small town where all residents knew each other. Families never locked the front doors, children would ride bikes anywhere they wanted, and many kids had their own boats before they could drive a car. But, my favorite childhood memories are spending summers in Miami Beach with my grandparents. Although life in rural Stuart was safe and easy, it did not compare to the excitement and speed of Miami. Professional sporting events, great restaurants, museums, diverse cultures and world-renowned shopping malls…Miami had it all. My love for big cities eventually led me to Manhattan, where I met my wife, who coincidentally was born and raised in Miami Beach. Now, my life has come full circle…living in Miami Beach since 2001.
Contact Info:
- Address: 14900 NW 79th Court
Miami Lakes, FL 33016 - Website: www.ngcsoftware.com
- Phone: 800.690.0642
- Email: info@ngcsoftware.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=ngc%20software
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/225657/
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