Rachel Seeley Mazur: 'I realized I had the passion'

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Never mind that she became CEO at Dasco Home Medical Equipment because she won at rock-paper-scissors. Rachel Seeley Mazur is constantly proving that she belongs at the top and together with her brother, Jason, is casting the company in her image. Although she's listed as CEO, Mazur and Seeley equally share the leadership post and consider themselves to be true partners in the business. The rock-paper-scissors contest - conducted at the ownership transfer meeting last year - was mutually determined to be an age- and gender-blind way to assign the titles. Mazur wants to make it clear though, that she has earned her place and that "daddy" didn't hand her the business unconditionally. She took a circuitous route to the Dasco front office, but Mazur also paid her share of dues. Originally intent on becoming a lawyer, Mazur earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Dayton. Like so many children of HME business owners, however, she heard the industry beckon and upon graduating moved to New Hampshire to work as a customer service representative for April Mason (a former 10 Under 40 subject herself) at LifePlus. While there she discovered the direction her career path would go. "I realized I had the passion, and decided that I belonged back home with Jason and dad," she said. After parents Donald and Linda Seeley opted for a Florida retirement, Mazur and her brother took over. In order to assuage the business conflicts that ruin many a family relationship, the siblings forged a pact: "We are brother and sister first, business partners second," she said. In her role as CEO, Mazur prides herself in using humanistic leadership principles, fostering teamwork, open dialogue and change management in the organization. "We take a team approach to problem solving, sitting around together to come up with solutions," she said. "When things get too mundane, we force change. And our company thrives on it." --- JASON AND RACHEL SEELEY MAZUR Ages: Rachel 29, Jason 30 Company/position: Rachel CEO, Jason president, Dasco Headquarters: Westerville, Ohio Annual sales volume: $10 million Years in HME business: Rachel seven, Jason nine Membership in professional organizations: AAHomecare, OAMES, Indiana Association for Medical Equipment Companies Business motto: "Our family serving yours since 1987"