Simon has shown that with enough zeal, you can still build a billion-dollar business from the ground up, even in metro Detroit. An ethnic Armenian who emigrated to the U.S. from Iraq as a youngster, Simon left his job in a Detroit gas station to start his fuel-distribution company in 1985. The company now serves 21 states. "We have 400 workers and have grown every year,'' he says. "Every economic contraction is an opportunity for someone. We still have lots of workers in Detroit with the Midwest work ethic, blue-collar people who like to work hard.''
In the relatively unglamorous business of fuel distribution, Simon has fostered a gung-ho workplace attitude. On the company's list of six core values, No. 1 is "passion." Looking ahead, Simon says the region's biggest issue is "red tape from government. The state has to get out of the way and make it easy to do business here.''
NEXT: Don Runkle
