AMANDA CHRISTIDES:
 
AMANDA CHRISTIDES




 
 
 
 
 
President, Plymouth Technology Inc. in Rochester Hills. The company provides boiler cooling, wastewater and reverse osmosis treatment chemicals, equipment, and consulting services to manufacturing plants. Recently, the company moved its headquarters to the Great Lakes Interchange/Rochester Hills SmartZone in a 10,000-square-foot building to accommodate the growing company and a new testing laboratory. The firm was founded by her father, Geary Parke, in 1991 as a boiler and cooling water treatment company. Christides started in field sales and engineering, moved up through the ranks, and became president after her father’s passing in 2005. Christides recognized the need for pollution control systems in the industrial marketplace and worked to develop a team to pursue this market niche and product line. Most recently, Christides worked to develop and patent her father’s concept for Plymouth’s new MRS technology, effectively revolutionizing the process for low-level contaminant removal in industrial settings. Christides is a member of Vistage International, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Association of Water Technologies, and the Cooling Technology Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree from Albion College and a management certificate from the University of Michigan Executive Education Program, in addition to various industry certifications.


WHERE BORN: "Bennington, Vermont."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: "I have to say my father, who started our company. He got me involved by throwing me into plants in downtown Cleveland and Detroit so I could understand how to best serve our customers by seeing the challenges they were facing in the field. He did a good job of transferring that knowledge to me. I always think as if I were running a plant, how I would want it run, and I solve their business problems that way. "

LAST BOOK READ: "Fiction. I just got through The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I go back and forth between business and classics."

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: "Driven and curious."

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: "The water treatment industry is growing very rapidly. GE just made a huge investment in the industry globally. Like oil, it’s a resource that’s hugely important to the public. Like oil, it’s important to manage it globally. It evolved from an industry that was protecting [water processing] equipment to one that is hugely focused on getting the most ‘mileage’ from every gallon. We’re trying to reuse water and return it in a pristine state, sometimes even better than when it came out of the ground. It’s a good time to be in water."

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: "I know it’s old but I really like SimulScribe. It scribes all of my voicemail to my email. I love it."

FAVORITE PLACE: "The town I grew up in, Chagrin Falls, Ohio."

FAVORITE HOBBIES: "Gardening, reading, and fixing things – working with my hands. I do a pretty decent vegetable garden every year. And anything with my kids. I have three of them."

FAVORITE FOOD: "Crème Brule."

MY HIDDEN TALENT: "I’m pretty decent at calligraphy."

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: "As a good friend, good wife, and good mother, and with regards to business, I want to be remembered for changing the face of the water treatment industry and massively impacting how we use water in the industry."

Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2009, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.