History

1915 - 1970's      1980s - 1990s      2000s

1988: After guiding the company for more than three decades, Robert H. Apple sells the family business to two Trade Press Publishing executives and an equity investor.

1990s: Under the leadership of Bob Wisniewski, President/CEO and Bob Arens, Executive Vice President/CFO, the company rapidly grows through a combination of new product development and acquisition.

1993: Maintenance Solutions magazine is launched to satisfy the information needs of 35,000 directors of maintenance and engineering responsible for commercial and institutional buildings.

1994: Progressive Railroading magazine is acquired from Murphy-Richter Publishing Company in Chicago.

1995: Contracting Profits magazine is launched to provide high quality business information to over 30,000 owners/managers of building service contracting firms.

1995: The first of three major industry Web portals is developed and go live: FacilitiesNet.com (1995), CleanLink.com (1997) and ProgressiveRailroading.com (2000).

1996: Wisniewski and Arens purchase the majority ownership interest of their investor partner.