Ken Solinsky

Insight Technology
Distribution & Manufacturing Category Winner

After nearly 15 years working for the U.S. Army Night Vision Laboratory, New York City native Ken Solinsky says he wanted to try something new, "to take risks and experience life." "As a government employee, I was sitting across the table from industry saying, why can't you do it better, faster, cheaper? And there was a part of me that said, 'Get on the other side of the table and do it better, faster, cheaper.'" In 1998, Solinsky and his wife, Grace, founded Insight Technology in Londonderry, N.H., to make night vision and electro-optical systems for the U.S. military. Today the company employs 1,200 people at three factories. Solinsky, 59, says 2008 revenue was more than $250 million and estimates more than $300 million in 2009. He credits his business success with his emphasis on leading his employees by example, setting a high level of expectation for each, and reinvesting money within the company.