Emmaus Father-daughter Business Part of Growing Trend

Ivanka Marie Trump. Christie Hefner. MaryJo Serfass.

They have broken tradition at their dads’ companies and become female forces in traditional male territories.

Trump, of course, is executive vice president of development and acquisitions in the Trump Organization. A Wharton Business School grad, she is the daughter of Donald Trump.

Hefner is the former chairman and chief executive of Playboy Enterprises, which was created by her dad, Hugh Hefner.

Serfass is president of at 53 South 7th Street in Emmaus,  which was started by her father William F. Mosser III, the 81-year-old chairman.

While Serfass isn‘t as famous as the other women, her success has been fueled by the same confidence that her father had in her performance. They have worked together for 30 years.

Traditions were broken in all three cases.

Their current company, Thermoplastic Valves, was started in 1986. It has annual sales of about $1.5 million, importing butterfly valves, safety block ball valves, horizontal swing valves, pool and spa valves and more. These plastic products are used for water filtration, irrigation, mining, aquariums and fluid circulation systems around the world.

“It’s not as common as a father and son business,” Serfass said. “But its getting more and more commom. It’s been absolutely wonderful.“

While her dad plays golf on Mondays, Serfass volunteers for groups such as the East Penn Business Council, the Community Justice Panel and the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Mosser chimed in: “Some don’t work out, but our relationship has been fantastic. We have been very fortunate with our children. They all made out well with no drugs with my children and grandchildren. They are all hard-working people.’’

Serfass, who started her career at ALPO before being recruited by her dad, is married with two grown children.

Her mom, Midge, and dad also have a son, David, who was a long-time employee at Stanley-Vidmar in Allentown before finding other interests.

The company has three full-time employees and one part-timer.

“It’s a nice, clean business because we buy it, put it in a warehouse and sell it,” said Mosser, who started in his family’s Allentown machine shop after two years at Muhlenberg College. “We cover all the U.S., Chile, Mexico and Brazil. We keep an inventory. As soon as the stuff goes out, we have to reorder.

“We get a partial container once a month. It gets loaded in Taiwan and comes across the West Coast. It goes to a warehouse in New Jersey and then is delivered here.“

The secret words here are plastics and Taiwan.

In 1981, Mosser entered into a parts-making business with mainland China, but found many of the parts were rusted by the time they reached the United States. He elected to make parts out of plastic. That planted a seed for Thermoplastic Valves.

Since 1986, they shifted their business to Taiwan and most metal parts are replaced with plastic, Serfass said.