Capitalizing on Your Passion

The Presidents' Forum of Columbus
February 20, 2008

Tara Abraham
CEO
Accel, Inc.

Speaker Biography:
Accel Inc. is an award winning contract packaging company specializing in creating innovative packaging assembly solutions. Accel’s services include, but are not limited to: assembly, packaging engineering and design, thermoforming, sourcing, reworks and international operations.

Accel Inc. was established by Tara Abraham in 1995 and serves industries such as health and beauty, automotive, pharmaceutical, food and beverage and many others. During her tenure in the beauty industry, Tara encountered frustration time after time as she worked with contract packaging companies on gift sets, gift-with-purchase sets, and promotional packaging. She could not find a reliable company who could affordably package her products on time, to the quality standards she set. It wasn’t long until Tara realized she could fill the need for a quality-focused and cost-savings-driven packaging company that would meet client and consumer expectations.

Tara began assembling gift sets out of a tiny 1,200 square foot warehouse. In only twelve years, Tara and the Accel team, including her husband, President and COO David Abraham, have grown the company into a 305,000 square foot facility in Columbus, Ohio with joint venture operations in Santa Ana, California, Imuris, Mexico and three locations in China including Shanghai, Xiamen and ZhuHai. Accel’s success is reinforced internally by a talented management team and externally through associations.

Tara is a member of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Women Presidents Organization and Young Presidents Organization. She is on the local board of the American Red Cross, the alumni board for Ohio State University’s College of Human Ecology, the WBENC Board for the Southeast Region and Columbus’ Kobacker House Board. Tara supports the American Lung Association, Breast Cancer Awareness, Children’s Hospital, Wexner Center for the Arts, and Action for Children.

Accel has been acknowledged as a top Woman-Owned Businesses in Central Ohio and has received the Columbus Fast Fifty award for six years. Additionally Accel has won Corporate Caring Awards, Family Business Awards, Limited Brands’ Apothecary Award for Supplier Excellence and Limited Brands’ 2007 Championing Diversity award. Tara received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Emerging Business in 2000, Columbus’ Top 40 under 40, the 2007 WBENC Business Star Award for the Southeast region of the United States and The Ohio State University College of Human Ecology Alumni Award.

Accel continues to raise the standards of packaging excellence across all industries by providing its clients with superior quality contract packaging services in a time-efficient manner and at cost-effective prices. They have earned their reputation for creating the most visually stimulating product presentations and packaging solutions.

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