We’re profiling one of the 11 honorees at the 25th Annual Excellence Awards: Honoring the Region’s Small Businesses every day leading up to the event on November 1. It’s important to recognize our region’s most successful small businesses for their innovati on, diversity, perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit as they are the backbone of the Greater Philadelphia community. Today’s featured winner is Steen Outdoor Advertising.

Award: Family Business of the Year

Company: Steen Outdoor Advertising 

Recipient: Terry Steen, President

Herman A. Steen founded General Neon Signs in 1930 just prior to the Depression era. An outdoor advertising division was created in 1952 and later formally incorporated as H.A. Steen Industries, Inc. Now, almost 80 years later, the company operates two divisions: Steen Outdoor Advertising and Big Mountain Imaging. It has 110 employees, including eight third-generation Steen family members. 

Steen’s dream was to create a family business open to every family member, regardless of education or skill set. Family members were encouraged to participate in all aspects of the company, with the idea that each person could find a niche that best suited his or her interests and abilities. As the business expanded, it developed its own real estate sector, which owns the majority of the company’s billboard locations; created its own construction company to build and install the sign structures; and developed a large-format printing division to manufacture and supply the billboard art work. 

Steen’s son, Terry, joined the company full-time in 1965, after completing his studies at the University of Maryland, and serving three years in the U.S. military. During his early years as company president, Terry focused his attention on the acquisition of high-traffic, premium billboard locations throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The additional inventory paved the way for the company to expand from local to national.

Steen Outdoor Advertising has received prestigious awards from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, American Red Cross, as well as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Philadelphia. The company has a strong community focus– from its commitment to select advertisers that meet reasonable community standards to providing a strong internship program that often leads to full-time employment. The company donates over $1 million annually in public ad space and print products to local charities and public awareness campaigns for organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the Sunshine Foundation, Komen Race for the Cure, and the City of Philadelphia.