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Who's Who: Frank Olea

A surfer/snowboarder from Southern California, Frank Olea is also a gifted kiosk developer. As vice president of his family's business, Olea Exhibits/Displays Inc., he is able to showcase his personality and his technical acumen.

May 29, 2004

When you summon to mind the stereotypical surfer, you probably do not come up with a highly respected kiosk manufacturing professional. Ditto for snowboarding.

But Frank Olea makes a habit out of shattering stereotypes. At 27 years old, this surfer and snowboard enthusiast is already vice president of the family business, Olea Exhibits/Displays Inc. He has been with the company since graduating from high school.

Olea Exhibits is a "family business" in every sense of the phrase. The patriarch of the clan, Fernando, founded the company in 1977 along with his sons Rene and Mark (Frank's father and uncle, respectively). Frank Olea's sister is attending college, but helps out part time, and his mother runs the office.

For many people, being born into a family business is as much of a curse as a blessing. In Olea's case, he spent countless hours -- after school, on weekends, on vacations -- around the family shop, helping out in whatever ways he could, often whether he wanted to or not.

Frank Olea has put his computer skills to good use as vice president of family-owned Olea Exhibits/Displays Inc.

"I spent all of my summer vacations here. I've been here after school, every day for years. So I've literally grown up in the business -- they started it just after I was born," Olea said. "It was something that I wanted to do by the time I got older and realized the potential and how fun it actually was -- when I wasn't forced to sweep the floors anymore, it actually became fun."

Fun, mixed with equal amounts of precocity and independence, are elements of Frank Olea's personality that became apparent even as a child.

"His sense of humor helps a lot," Rene Olea said of his son, "and his enthusiasm for everything he does -- if he gets into skateboarding or bicycling or riding his unicycle, he wants to be the best there is. He's always been that way. He taught himself to ride a two-wheeler when he was 3 years old. I thought he was way too young, but I came home one day and he was already doing it, so I had to take his training wheels off."

Olea's sense of independence again was obvious when he chose to forgo four years of college and go right to work instead. He says that, in his case, it was the right thing to do.

"It was an intentional choice not to go. I always call it the school of hard knocks; being here in the business, I've learned way more than I ever could have in college," he said. "I've got a lot of friends my age that are barely getting out of college, barely getting started on their career. I've already worked my way up to where I am now, so I don't think I've missed out on anything."

A computer hobbyist since his days at Richard Gahr High School in Cerritos, Calif., Olea said that he first got excited about business applications for technology when a teacher introduced him to the interactive drawing/graphics system AutoCAD.

"(Mr. Lizaraga) took me around to a couple of universities, and introduced me to graphic arts programs and different ways that the computer can be used in different environments," Olea said.

The combination of computer expertise and enthusiasm for kiosks has earned Olea props from family and clients alike.

"Frank brings in a little bit of excitement and flair," Rene Olea said. "He's got a lot of computer background, a lot of background working with designers. He brings a lot of excitement -- when he gets a new kiosk he knows how to get the guys enthusiastic about doing a really good job. The guys want to please him."

"He's humorous, honest; I actually consider him a friend of mine," said Kelly Mundell, general manager of kiosk deployer High Technology Solutions Inc., a client of Olea. "I can speak frankly and tell him exactly what I need, and he'll get it done."

Located in Artesia, Calif., Olea Exhibits divides its attention between trade show displays and kiosks, with Olea in charge of the kiosk side. He said the company had overall sales of $3.5 million last year.

"It kind of leveled off in the past couple years, but this year looks like it'll be a growth year," he said.

Olea said that the company got into the kiosk business around 1993.

"It's about 45% of new business -- with the trade show side we've got a lot of existing customers," he said.

Last year the kiosk division generated about $1 million in revenue, Olea said, and has been steadily growing since its inception.

"We're trying to get it to a 50-50 thing," Olea added. "The trade show side is more profitable. But while it's a little bit more profitable, the sales cycles can be a lot longer. We go through a lot of burn rate on sales and marketing and design. But in kiosks, there's the potential to do mass production where you're doing the same thing repeatedly, whereas the trade show side is all custom work, so everything is a one-off."

The company currently has five standard kiosk models, and offers custom design as well.

"Some can go cross-industry, but mainly we've got banking and human resource, government, sales, and pay-per use," Olea said of the pre-fab models.

When asked what a typical day for him is like, Olea replies with one word: Crazy.

"I deal with sales and marketing, new kiosk development, or any new standard kiosks that we're going to put out," he added, "and then I'm also working closely with our engineers and our designers. I'll usually handle the more complicated projects."