The Boss - Flying the Annin and Co. Flag - NYTimes.com WHEN I was 22, I joined the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, which was founded in 1774. It's a historical organization, but it's also part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. I went to basic training and served on weekends like many other members of the National Guard. After obtaining an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, I started my career as a consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton. It was the rage to work for a consulting firm in the 1960s. Being assigned to so many different companies, you could see the big picture as opposed to running one program in one business. It was like getting another M.B.A. Next, I worked in marketing for Johnson & Johnson, followed by Warner-Lambert and Crayola. Ten years ago, I approached Annin, the flag-making company, with Joe LaPaglia, a fellow executive at yet another company for which I worked. We wanted to buy Annin, which is the oldest and largest flag maker in the nation. The Annin family didn't want to sell, but after talking to us, it asked if we wanted to run the company until the next generation of the family was ready to take over. Joe had a background in finance, and I brought marketing expertise. We were honored to be asked. Joe became president, and I became executive vice president. When he retired a year and a half ago, I took his spot. Carter Beard and Sandy Van Lieu, Annin family members, will take over when I retire next year. The company is more than 160 years old. I loved the history of this company when I learned about it, and I found the ability to market the United States flag, along with other types of flags, irresistible. In the 1800s, Alexander Annin started making signal flags for merchant ships. Annin flags have flown at inaugural ceremonies starting with President Zachary Taylor's. The first flag raised by the Marines on Iwo Jima was made by Annin, and we supplied one to NASA for the Apollo moon mission in 1969. There was an Annin flag on Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole in 1909 as well. I had been at the company a little over a year when the planes hit the twin towers. Our headquarters are close to New York, and that day had a dramatic impact on us as a company as well as personally. The first thing we did was call our suppliers and buy as many raw materials as we could that day. We had the largest capacity in the industry but it paled compared with what was needed. The patriotism in the country was unbelievable. Americans wanted to buy United States flags made in America. I was so proud. We did store checks and found that a lot of flags made in other countries were left in the stores. Annin sells through 3,000 flag dealers and other outlets that include the American Legion, Target and Wal-Mart. We increased our hiring and had three plants going full bore for months after that day. Annin makes flags for states, for the military and for boating and marinas. We also make custom flags, and we're the authorized supplier to the United Nations. We make flags of every country in the world, in different sizes. We even make flags that display the swastika, but only for movie studios making films about World War II. Occasionally we get questions from citizens and the news media about our political opinions. We don't want to be self-serving or to be associated with anyone's political agenda. Patriotism is important to us, but this is America. People are free to buy what they want, as long as it's legal.