Michael Biggs Profile

 

Michael Biggs’, Morningside College ’76, time at Delta Sigma Phi started like many others. He was recruited by people he new from high school and thought it would be a great experience. However, little did he know, 39 years later his path would take him into an industry quite different than any of his Delta Sig brothers’.

 

Biggs currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska, and is the owner of a boating company. It’s not your average boating company, though. He sells gondolas.

 

Yes, that is correct. In Nebraska of all places—the middle of the prairie—you can find the narrow barge with curved ends you would typically find in Italy.

 

It began with Biggs and someone he knew helping run the business for a summer after he had returned to Nebraska due his father’s passing. He had such a great time running the business that he wanted to buy it when he heard talks about the owner considering selling. However, despite back and forth conversations, the owner wasn’t he was actually willing to sell the business

 

Finally, Biggs said the conversation came back up after one of the owner’s boats deteriorated, and he didn’t have the means to replace it. Because Biggs had a connection with a boat builder—the man who first introduced Biggs to the company—he had access to a new boat. This put the transfer of the business in motion.

 

Since taking over the company the gondola company has received a lot of notoriety, most recently from the Wall Street Journal. You see, business magnate Warren Buffett was supposed to be interviewed in Omaha and wanted to do something a little different for it. He found out about the gondola company and thought it would be an interesting place to have his interview and show something different about his hometown.

 

The interview, unfortunately, never took place. Buffett’s schedule got too busy for it. But one man’s loss is another man’s gain. The writer for the Wall Street Journal who was slate to write the piece decided to write a story about gondolas, tracing their history back to 1898. It was an exposition where there were gondolas brought in from Italy. 

 

Biggs lives a carefree life that allows him to have fun with what he is doing for a living. It reminds him of his time in the Fraternity when he and his brothers had a great time enjoying what they were doing together. For Biggs, things have come full circle in the form of owning a business he loves.