Tom Murdough in 1991 founded rotomolder Step2 Co. LLC, a manufacturer of quality plastic consumer products for children and for the home and garden, in Streetsboro, Ohio. The firm also operates additional manufacturing facilities in Perrysville, Ohio; Fort Valley, Georgia, and Sanchong, South Korea. The 800-employee company is the largest rotational molder in North America with estimated 2006 sales of more than $120 million. That's up from an estimated $100 million in 2000.
Murdough also founded the Little Tikes Co., which he established in 1970 in a barn with nine employees. The company grew to be one of the top toy manufacturers worldwide, with sales in 1989 of over $270 million. In 1984 he sold Little Tikes to Rubbermaid Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary and continued as its president and general manager until Sept. 1, 1989. For several years, Step2 and Little Tikes ranked as North America's two largest rotomolders.
Murdough earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1961, and following graduation, served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps for three years. In 1965, he joined the Wilson Sporting Goods Co. as a salesman and was promoted to vice president of marketing for Wonder Products, a Wilson division, in 1968.
Now 68, Murdough has a strong commitment to lending his leadership in a variety of local and national roles.He is a director of Step2, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Baker McMillen Co., and is a member of the Founder's Group of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. He also has served as a director or trustee in a number of business, civic and educational boards.
In 2000, he and his wife, Joy, formed the Hudson Village Development Co. for the purpose of developing and revitalizing approximately 10 acres in the downtown area of their longtime home in suburban Hudson, Ohio. The project entails mixed-use retail, residential, restaurants, a gourmet grocer and offices.