In the fall of 2008, Chris Aquiline and Chris Scinta, along with a third partner, took over Allied Circuits and have since transformed the way the Buffalo-based manufacturing company operates. But the story between Aquiline and Scinta does not start there. Rather, it begins in the era known for the Brady Bunch, Apple II computers, the premiere of Star Wars and Atari 2600s. Now life-long friends since 1977, Chris and Chris met the summer before third grade.

While the two have spent twelve years together now as business partners at Allied Circuits, this was not their first time running a company with one another. Given minimal hours at part-time summer jobs, Aquiline and Scinta co-founded a lawn mowing company, providing Northtown suburbs with the freshest of cuts. Subsidized with their parents’ mowers, tools and cars, the two were able to do well enough to make a little extra cash before starting junior year of high school.

After graduating from Williamsville South, the two set out on their separate ways for college. Post-graduation, Aquiline and Scinta worked for various companies on their own each beginning to define their professional careers. Seeking greater control of their careers along with the ability to stay in Buffalo, the two came back together and took over as the leaders of Allied Circuits.

At that point, Allied was a team of 16 employees; since then, it has grown to 50 and encompasses a new, larger location. Size is not the only way the company has evolved, either. While Allied Circuits was strictly a control panel manufacturer in 2008, the company has expanded capabilities to include design and drawing sets, system integration and even field service. While Allied has undergone extensive growth over the past decade, Aquiline and Scinta say they are just as eager to continue moving the company forward. With plans to implement lean manufacturing methods and begin the ATEX self-certification program, the business partners are hopeful that Allied’s future is just as successful as its past.