Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> March 3, 2003
BRETT M. KINGSTONE is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Super Vision International, Inc. He started his fiber optic company in
his college dormitory at Stanford University at the age of 19. He
received his first order after strapping a fiber optic letter 'A' on the
back of his motorcycle and racing down Highway 5 to visit the Imagineers
at Disney. After nearly blowing up the dormitory he was urged to take up
residence off campus. The company quickly moved to a small Palo Alto
bungalow with a detached garage. When business was good, the company
'expanded out of the garage into the backyard'. Super Vision was later
established in Orlando, Florida, where the first of many fiber optic and
LED lighting landmarks to come were produced for Coca Cola, Universal
Studios and Walt Disney. Super Vision has been honored as one of the Top
500 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in the United States, Top 50
Fastest Growing Companies in the State of Florida, Industry of the Year
Award in Orange County and Top 100 Companies for Working Families in
Central Florida. Super Vision proudly sponsors 'Give Kids the World' in
Kissimmee, Florida. In addition to donating all the fiber optic lighting
for the Castle of Miracles at GKTW, Super Vision has brought joy and
happiness to thousands of terminally ill children with bright and
colorful installations throughout the facility over the course of the
last 12 years. Mr. Kingstone has been awarded the Dr. W. Judson King
Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Central Florida Innovation
Corporation and the Citibank/Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Award for the state. He has been awarded 12 US patents and more than 27
foreign patents on fiber optic and LED lighting technology and has
authored two previous books: The Student Entrepreneurs Guide, McGraw-
Hill, 1990 (Introduction written by Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winner
in economics) and The Dynamos, John Wiley & Sons, 1987 (Introduction
Written by Arthur Lipper III, author and former Publisher of Venture
Magazine). Profile
TWST: Would you begin with a capsule summary of Super VisionInternational?
Mr. Kingstone: Super Vision is a manufacturer of fiber optic and
LED lighting. Our main key target market is the