Medical Consultants Find Success
Filed: 07/29/2001

A couple of medical technicians met in 1983 when one covered for the other
during a vacation period. Stan Sherrill and Bob Ward drifted into a medical
laboratory consulting service, operating out of a bedroom in Ward's house
while retaining their day jobs.

In the last three months of 1985 sales totaled about $40,000.

They incorporated in January 1986 as Modern Laboratory Services Inc. and the
business grew steadily. They estimate the company will do $8 million in
sales in the current fiscal year.

"We have averaged an annual growth of 13 percent over the last six or seven
years," Ward said.

The scope of the business has grown along with its sales. Today the primary
products are medical laboratory equipment and the supplies to go along with
it. A basic set-up would allow a medical office to do its tests such as
blood work.

They still consult, primarily in setting up medical laboratories. "We do pro
bono consulting services if a customer purchases equipment and supplies from
us," Sherrill said.

Ward, 52, carries the title of president. Sherrill, 48, is vice president,
They function with no pecking order. The corporation has grown from a local
consulting service to an international marketing business.

About 45 percent of the business is overseas, primarily in the Pacific
Islands and military bases in the Far East. They began delivering to bases
in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, and the Philippines. Ward noted that the company
lost one its largest customers when Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines
was closed.

Modern Laboratory Services' off-shore business has expanded to military
bases in Egypt, Turkey, England and Germany. This expansion happens as
procurement officials become acquainted with the company and then move to
new locations, they say.

Overseas operations opened up in 1990 after Sherrill and Ward were invited
to visit Abbott Diagnostic Laboratories in Tokyo.

The company retains a full-time representative in Guam. Colby Group
International in Japan provides some Far East representation. That company
is headed by Mark Colby, one-time Bakersfield resident.

The division of management has Ward responsible for overseas operations,
while Sherrill heads domestic services.

Domestic currently means doing business in 17 states. The company recently
opened an office in Seattle. The company retains sales representatives from
San Diego to Seattle.

What started as a two-person operation back in 1985 now numbers 25,
including the founders. Ward and Sherrill added their first employee in
1989. They credit their employees for much of their success.

The partners have an amicable separation of duties. Sherrill likes heading
the domestic business because he has school-age children and wishes to stay
close to home. Ward's son is grown and married, so he is free to travel. He
estimates he travels about four weeks a year. One hobby is scuba diving, and
he finds time for that when he visits the Guam office.

Both men had early exposure to laboratory operations, but on opposite sides
of the country. Sherrill describes himself as a Navy brat. He was born in
Portsmouth, Va., but arrived in California when he was in the third grade.
His father, Dr. Marvin F. Sherrill, a pathologist, was co-founder of
Physicians Automated Laboratory in Bakersfield. At age 16 he went to work
for his father picking up laboratory samples.

A graduate of West High School, he went on to the University of California,
San Diego, gaining a diploma in 1975. After toying with the idea of medical
school, he trained as a medical technician and was licensed in 1976. He
worked for his father for awhile, and then took a job at San Joaquin
Hospital on the hospital's first graveyard shift.

Next he joined the staff of Clinica Sierra Vista in Lamont, holding on to
his night job for a while at the same time. "It was a little grueling, full
time."

But the Lamont job proved important in his life history. Not only did he
cross paths with Ward there, but he met a dental assistant named Diana
there. They were married in in 1984.

Ward was born in Buffalo, N.Y., but his family moved to Miami, Fla., where
he grew up. His father also was a physician and he began volunteering in
hospitals as a teen-ager. By 16 he had refined his hospital service to
laboratories. He earned an A.A. degree from Miami-Dade Community College and
picked up additional credits at Bucknell and Miami Universities and later a
few more at Cal State Bakersfield.

He is a Kern County resident by marriage. His wife, Phyliss, an agricultural
scientist, was offered a job in Wasco by Sandoz Corp. Ward followed her
west, knowing that as a lab tech he could find work anywhere. He was working
for TempTech when he subbed for Sherrill in Lamont.

One of their first and most unusual jobs came in 1985. A Los Angeles
physician learned about their consulting service. The office was in a
building under a Los Angeles freeway with an overhead view of the bottom of
the freeway. The doctor hired them.

One of their early clients was Dr. Gregory Stainer, an ophthalmologist, on
19th Street.

Modern Laboratory Services Inc. has grown a long way from Ward's bedroom and
then his garage. In 1989 they moved into the back half of a small store
building at 831 19th St. The front half was occupied by Mary Postgate's doll
shop. Their customers had to walk through the doll displays.

In 1992 they moved into a 9,200-square-foot building in Presidio Business
Park, Suite 200, 4300 Stine Road where they remain today.

The company is distributor for more than 50 manufacturers. While some are
routed direct from the manufacturer to the client, most are shipped out of
their Bakersfield warehouse. Overseas shipments go primarily by the U.S.
Postal Services' Priority and Express Mail, while UPS handles much of the
domestic product. The company has its own delivery vans for local service.

The company has a Web page, www.modernlab.com , which brings in some
business. A recent contact resulted in their setting up an oncology lab in
Jamaica.

There is life outside the laboratory warehouse for these entrepreneurs.
Phyliss Ward is no longer in agribusiness. She is doing some marketing in
the arts and also works in clay. The Wards have a kiln at home and he
anticipates working in ceramics. He has done some work in jewelry and
metals.

Sons Nicholas, 13, and David, 10, have Sherrill active in youth sports,
including coaching YMCA basketball and youth baseball. He has been active in
baseball, right now the Cal Ripken League. He is a Youth Baseball board of
directors member and is sponsorships director. The Sherrills enjoy
traveling.

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