Passing the baton

Swiftwick co-founder Mark Cleveland is outspoken about his company's homegrown, high-quality products and the folly of buying cheap socks to go with pricey running shoes and other athletic equipment. The serial entrepreneur -- he also owns Hobby Express in Brentwood -- also is frank about his "professional attention deficit disorder" and his opinion that hiring great people is the top job of a good leader.

So it should come as no surprise that Cleveland -- who in the past has helped run marine transport and document management companies, among others -- launched a plan to step out of the day-to-day operations at Swiftwick some two years ago, just as the company was growing by leaps and bounds. Like so many entrepreneurs, Cleveland is a starter, a disruptor worming his way into established sectors with a wrinkle on the traditional product -- in the case of a Swiftwick, high-performance socks that wick sweat or stop hockey skates from slashing players' legs.