Putting her company on sound footing

In 1951, at the dawn of the television era, Walter Shanahan opened a small radio and TV sales and service shop in the Highlands section of Lowell.

The shop prospered, selling and servicing American products from companies such as Zenith, RCA, and Motorola. But by the late 1980s, independent TV shops' glory days were over, with the rise of discount chain operators, said Catherine Shanahan, Walter's daughter and the sole owner of Shanahan Sound & Electronics Inc. since 1994.

"Our TV service business was struggling in the '80s," and that meant that a new tack had to be taken if the family business was to survive, said Shanahan, 53.

So, her firm has evolved -- so far successfully -- into an integrator of audio and video systems for corporations and institutions.

Her father, 87, runs an adjoining antique light shop "and is still a source for questions on the business," she said.

"Customize for customers," Catherine Shanahan said, is the driving force behind the video system business today, whether it's designing two theaters for Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, setting up video wall units for NStar for grid-monitoring operations, or installing state-of-the-art array speaker systems in the main sanctuary of Boston's Trinity Church.

Trinity Church is the largest single project to date, she said, adding that her firm received nearly $500,000 for the work, which was done in phases. Besides providing the speaker system for the church's sanctuary, the firm installed a multizone audio-visual system for a new undercroft, an area beneath the church used for social events and classes.

About 60 percent of the firm's clients are religious organizations, typically churches, in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, she said.

It is this work, in beautiful settings, that she finds especially appealing, she said.

The firm, which has 12 employees, has been profitable since 1994, and last year's revenues of approximately $3 million are expected to increase by 6 percent this year, she said. She said the company has about 450 clients.

Shanahan, who lives in Lowell, started out in completely different work.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University in Boston, she was a security manager for 10 years with Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

That changed 20 years ago.

"My brother Timothy asked me to join the family business as the office manager, which I did," she said. "I also worked with my youngest brother, Patrick."

Timothy, 61, a Derry, N.H., resident, owns a security business, and Patrick, 47, is in business for himself near Orlando, Fla.

It wasn't all that surprising, she said, that she would someday run a small enterprise. "There are eight siblings, and five of us are small-business owners," she said.

Like any small-business owner, Shanahan is always contending with challenges, with the key ones for her "finding talented people to hire and trying to stay on top of technology."

She said it has helped to collaborate with other firms and to market her firm's capabilities to larger, up-and-coming companies.

For example, Woburn-based Barbizon Light of New England was a partner on the Plimoth Plantation project and on one for Boston's Children's Museum. And Westford-based NetScout Systems Inc. has been a client for several years, she said.

"Shanahan Sound has some very talented people on whom we have relied heavily," said Peter McNamee, general manager of Barbizon, a theatrical and broadcast lighting system specialist.

David Desrosiers, facilities supervisor for NetScout, a computer network management company, said Shanahan Sound has been involved with audio-visual equipment in several conference rooms and training laboratories. "They've made adjustments to our equipment and upgraded some systems," Desrosiers said. "Their technicians are knowledgeable and are particularly skilled at trouble-shooting."

Catherine Shanahan, a newly elected board member of the National Systems Contractors Association, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said her competition consists of "various size companies. But everybody finds their focus and concentrates on that."

Her focus, she said, is on building the family business further. "I'm not going to retire anytime soon, so the Shanahan name will continue to be recognized by clients and would-be clients," she said.