Celebrating 47 Years of Service

We’ve made no secret of the fact that Columbia Weather Systems is a family-owned small business. Today we’d like to offer a glimpse into the family.

Last week we celebrated the retirement of one of the CWS owners, Paul Hinds, president of Hinds Instruments, from which CWS was spun off in 1997. It was a bit of a history review.

• – In 1971, Hinds International was started by Gene Hinds, joined by his eldest son Paul. In later years, sons James and Tom also joined the company as it grew.
• – Rebranded “Hinds Instruments”, the company narrowed its focus to manufacture two very different scientific instruments – photoelastic modulators and weather stations.
• – Gene retired in 1995 passing ownership of the company to the three sons who were active in the business, along with their spouses. The eldest son, Paul, has been president.
• – In 1997, the weather station business was spun off to create Columbia Weather Systems headed up by Nader Khoury and his wife Martha (Hinds) Khoury.

These video clips from speeches at Paul’s retirement party offer some insight into the character of the company leadership. The first is from Tom Hinds who takes over as president of Hinds Instruments. The second are some reflections from Paul himself.