DRIVING THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1991
STN: How did you eventually take over? Civitella: At that time, I started buying
one or two shares of the company, whatever I could afford at the time. I did finally buy 25 percent of the company. Ten, I thought: Wow, maybe I could convince him to let me buy more of the company. I eventually bought 35 percent. At this point, we were really taking off. I realized that I needed to make a decision. Do I really want to contin- ue doing this? I asked (Forth): How can I take over the rest of the company? Company shares were worth a lot more at that time, but I (completed the acqui- sition) in 2000. I became the 100-percent shareholder and immediately renamed the company to Transfinder Corporation.
STN: Is that what led to the “finder”
family of products? Civitella: Yes, the whole concept of “x”
finder for many different products. Te core product was routing, so we renamed that to Routefinder Pro. Now, there are many other products in the “finder” family. Our No. 1
seller is still Routefinder Pro, but we now also have Servicefinder for fleet mainte- nance. Ten there's our family of Infofinder solutions for communication: Infofinder le for district-wide access to transportation information, Infofinder i for parents and guardians to access information on the district’s website and Infofinder mobile for access anywhere and anytime. We also have Busfinder for integration with GPS units, Tripfinder for field trip management, etc. Tat was the whole concept of having the company be a finder for solutions — trans-Atlantic and dedicated to the pupil transportation industry.
STN: What’s next? Civitella: In 2013, I see Transfinder
becoming more global, more trans world at this point. We’re seeing opportunities popping up all over the globe. Of course, our competitors are not sleeping. Tey’re still producing new products every day with more functionality, which keeps us on our toes. We have to continue maintaining a
An artist's rendering of Transfinder's new corporate headquarters in Schenectady, N.Y., for which construction is scheduled to break ground this spring.
great client base, great functionality, make sure we continue to address people’s needs and also take some risk. We came up with a mobile product not because our clients asked for it; we just felt this was something people were going to love.
A school bus seat people actually want to sit on FREEDMAN FAMILY 3PTA SEAT
Every Family-3PTA has adjustable shoulder belts, commercial seat comfort and complies with all applicable school and safety standards.
Not Just Seats
• Adjustable 3-point belts
• Quasi Static • 202A Compliant
www.freedmanseating.com sales@freedmanseat.com 800 443-4540
www.stnonline.com 25
Seating Solutions
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