SEPTEMBER 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 53
BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
HENRY SCHEIN
OUR BEST YEARS ARE YET TO COME
How does a company become the world’s largest
provider of health care products and services to
office-based dental and medical practitioners? For
Henry Schein, it started in 1932, in the middle of
the Great Depression, when Henry Schein, a recent
pharmacy graduate from Columbia University,
borrowed $500 to open a corner drugstore in
Queens, New York. Four years later, he married
Esther Baliba, and the pair began to build a business
based on a simple philosophy: great price, highquality
products, and unparalleled customer service.
During World War II, Henry saw the opportunity
to better serve his customers by providing the new
“miracle antibiotic,” penicillin. Soon he formed an
alliance to manufacture injectable penicillin and
streptomycin under the Henry Schein brand name,
and sold it through his pharmacy and by mail order
– an important new way to connect with customers.
In the 1950s, they expanded their medical products
business to also include dental products. Because
dentists typically ordered more than physicians,
more dental items were added to the inventory
and special dental products mailers were created.
Soon the focus of the business moved from the
retail pharmacy to serving office-based dentists
and physicians by mail order.
In 1962, Henry Schein published its first
comprehensive catalog, which would quickly
become the definitive product reference guide
for the industry. The company also moved from
the pharmacy to a larger facility in Queens to
accommodate the growing mail-order business.
As the company grew, Henry and Esther Schein
worked hard to ensure that employees felt like family
– like Team Schein Members. And the foundation of
this family was a values-based culture that began at
the top and reached into every part of the organization.
By 1968, the dental segment had become the driver
of Henry Schein’s business and a separate dental
catalog was introduced. And by 1971, a second
generation of the Schein family took on leadership
of the company as Marvin Schein assumed the dayto
day operations of Henry Schein.
Under Marvin’s leadership in the 1970s, Henry
Schein moved to an even larger facility in
Port Washington, N.Y. and began to automate
distribution – a first step in the technology leadership
to which the company remains committed.
In 1980, Jay Schein, Henry and Esther’s older son,
assumed leadership of the company and began to
assemble committed team members who could
help him take Henry Schein, Inc. to the next level.
Jay invited Stanley Bergman, a young consultant
and accountant from South Africa, to join the
company as chief financial officer in 1980. Soon
after that, 26-year-old Jim Breslawski, a colleague of
Stanley’s from BDO Seidman, joined Henry Schein
as comptroller.
Under Jay’s leadership, the 1980s were an exciting
time of growth, prosperity, and innovation for
Henry Schein. In 1984, Henry Schein became
the first in the industry to fully automate the
distribution cycle. One year later, the company
expanded into dental laboratories with the
acquisition of Zahn Dental. In 1986, with the
growing threat of HIV/AIDS, Henry Schein’s
groundbreaking infection control campaign,
“Sterilize as if your life depends on it,” helped
educate and protect the dental profession.
With Jay’s untimely passing in November 1989,
Henry Schein was at an important crossroads. The
more profitable Schein Pharmaceutical was spun
off, and Stanley, then just 39 years old, became
Chairman and CEO of Henry Schein’s distribution
operations, which had only about $200 million in
sales at that time. Stanley began to assemble an
executive management team, many of whom still
lead the company, and they began to steadily build
Henry Schein’s distribution business.
With a vision for growth in place and an energized
Team Schein sprit rekindled, Stanley and his team
led Henry Schein through a remarkable decade of
success in the 1990s. Expanding internationally,
beginning in 1990 with the Netherlands, the UK,
and Spain. Opening regional distribution centers
to increase customer satisfaction. Offering valueadded
products and services. Pioneering dental
practice management software. Going public on
NASDAQ exchange on Nov. 3, 1995. Creating a
sales and marketing approach that integrated field
sales, telesales, and direct marketing. Introducing
Internet-based catalogs.
Team Schein accelerated that momentum in the
new millennium. Establishing the Henry Schein
Cares global social responsibility program with a
number of flagship programs that continue today.
Continuing to acquire and integrate strategically
important companies into the Henry Schein family.
Advancing technology leadership in all market
segments, including digital dentistry. Debuting
on the Fortune 500 and consistently ranking
among Fortune’s list of the World’s Most Admired
Companies. Being included on the S&P 500 Index;
Forbes Best Employers list; and the Ethisphere
Institute’s Most Ethical Companies list.
Today Henry Schein employees approximately
21,000 Team Schein Members working out
of hundreds of locations in 32 countries and
territories around the world – sharing success
in an intrapreneurial environment with a
commitment to Henry Schein’s values-based
culture. Through more than nearly nine decades
of reinvention and growth, Henry Schein, Inc.
has exceeded even the greatest ambitions of its
founders, reaching sales in 2020 of $10.1 billion.
And the story of Henry Schein is not over. As
Stanley has said many times, “Our best years are
yet to come.”
At Henry Schein, holding ourselves accountable to the five constituencies that make up our “Mosaic
of Success” is one of our highest values, empowering us to succeed and thrive while serving the best
interests of all. Our Corporate Charter is grounded in our belief that success requires recognizing and
building trust among all of our key constituencies.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
