Anna Cambron never expected to pursue a career in her grandfather John F. Ruggles Jr.’s sign business, Ruggles Sign. It was the mid-1980s and she was studying finance at the University of Kentucky, with ambitions of going into banking.
But, after answering phones and helping out at Ruggles part time, she decided to stay on with the family business. Her fiancé (and soon to be husband) Tim Cambron joined her there, and the couple has spent the past 33 years growing the business. They purchased Ruggles Sign in 2000, with Anna handling the financial aspects of the business as CEO/CFO, and Tim focusing on sales and other executive functions as president.
Even if you aren’t familiar with the Ruggles name, chances are you’re familiar with their work. National clients include Victoria’s Secret, Kay Jewelers, Bath & Body Works and Express, as well as notable local and regional clients, including the Lyric Theater; Parkette Drive-In; Alltech, including for the FEI World Equestrian Games and the company’s new Dueling Barrels brewery and distillery in downtown Pikeville; Forcht Bank and Fifth Third Bank.
The company’s sign products include illuminated, free-standing, metal, LED, neon and custom varieties. John Ruggles Jr., a neon tube turner by trade, launched the company in 1946, operating out of two Lexington locations before moving operations to Versailles, Kentucky, in the mid-1990s. He remained involved with the company until his death in 2001. In 2014, the company relocated to a roughly 253,000-square-foot facility on Industry Drive in Versailles, occupying 160,000 square feet and leasing out the remainder.
The company has about 100 employees, and among them are Anna’s cousin, Tim’s brother and assorted nieces and nephews. The Cambrons’ son works there part-time while attending college, and their two daughters were previously employed by the company as well.
Facilities are sleek and modern, and employees are treated to a Derby lunch, summer picnic and Christmas gathering each year. Recently employees took a chartered bus to visit the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati.
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The bulk of the company’s work is in retail signage, and when client companies create new logos, change names or undergo acquisitions, their signs must reflect these updates. Ruggles Sign personnel consult with clients’ in-house designers on concepts, and after they are approved, they’re manufactured and installed, usually within a few months’ time, Tim Cambron said.
Michelle Oxley is president/CEO of Versailles-based Citizens Commerce bank, which has a business relationship with Ruggles Sign spanning two decades. Ruggles Sign provided the design work and signage during a recent rebranding at the bank, Oxley said, and has erected temporary signs at a new Lexington location, with permanent signs to follow.
Citizens Commerce also tapped Ruggles Sign for exterior lighted building signs, electronic messaging signs and smaller signage.
Oxley said she appreciates Ruggles Sign’s custom capabilities and its commitment to customer service.
“They make sure that signs are tailored to their customers’ needs,” she said.
Another longtime client is Brian McCarty, cofounder of Bluegrass Hospitality Group in Lexington, which operates restaurants in Lexington, Louisville and Florence, Kentucky, along with additional locations in Tennessee, Indiana and Alabama, under the names Malone’s, Malone’s Prime Events & Receptions, Harry’s, Aqua Sushi, Drake’s and OBC Kitchen.
Ruggles Sign made all the signs for their brands, McCarty said, including their corporate office and two new restaurants in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and Bristol, Tennessee.
“There’s no job too big or too small for them. They’re just very good at what they do." —Bluegrass Hospitality Group co-founder Brian McCarty
“There’s no job too big or too small for them. They’re just very good at what they do,” he said. He said he also appreciates the company’s can-do attitude in finding solutions that suit his needs.
The sign business has changed dramatically since the company’s founding and even since Tim and Anna Cambron came on board. They travel to conventions to keep attuned to the latest trends and technologies.
“When we first started in the business in the mid-’80s, there were no computers in the sign industry at all,” Anna Cambron said. “We didn’t even have any office computers at the time either.”
Now computers, LED lighting and digital printers are required tools of the trade, but when projects are best done by hand, the company can do that too, Anna said. The company employs two full-time neon tube benders.
“It’s kind of interesting, the blend of that old skill or craft,” she said. “And we have all this new technology as well.”
Anna said one of the most rewarding parts of her job is driving around Lexington or visiting a mall and noticing all the Ruggles-produced signs.
“Our employees, they love that too,” she said. “Signs are something most people don’t even think about, but somebody has to make that sign.”