Making solid investments

Vestavia City Schools alumnus Ted Alling has been involved in several highly successful businesses in his career. They include a startup company called Access America Transport, a logistics company that grew to include close to 600 employees and a value of $500 million.

But reflecting on his career so far, Alling, 41, said the most fulfilling part of his career has been opening Chattanooga Preparatory School with his wife, Kelly, in August 2018. The school serves underprivileged boys, opening with about 60 students in August, Alling said.

“It has just been an amazing experience,” Alling said.

The boys are held to a high standard, Alling said, but also get to enjoy incredible experiences, like going to a chess tournament in Brooklyn. Five boys from the school’s team went and placed 19th out of 48 teams. That’s an outstanding feat, given that six months prior, the boys didn’t know what chess was, Alling said.

Inspired by what they experienced during a one-year sabbatical in London, at which time their children were enrolled at private British schools, the Allings spent three years preparing to open the school, traveling all over the country, Alling said, so it was a neat moment when the community showed up to support the students on their first day of school.

The charter school is the latest of the organizations started by the 1996 Vestavia Hills High School graduate. After graduating from Samford University with his best friends Barry Large and Allan Davis, the three men started Access America in 2002 and ran it for 12 years before selling it to Coyote Logistics, which in turn sold the business to UPS.

When he first moved to Chattanooga, Alling said he intended on starting a Smoothie King franchise. But thankfully, he said, his wife talked him out of it, opening the door for Access America to start.

The company, even after selling to Coyote, has an office in downtown Birmingham near Regions Field, because Alling wanted to play a role in the revitalization of downtown Birmingham.

After selling Access America, the three founders started Lamp Post Group, which invested in 25 tech startups in and around Chattanooga, including Chattanooga Whiskey and Bellhops. They also helped start Dynamo, a venture capital fund focusing on logistics.

Alling said he always wanted to go into business, going back to his childhood growing up in Vestavia Hills. His father, Rock Alling, is an oral surgeon in Hoover, but also owned a gas station in Hoover, where Ted Alling worked when he was younger.

“It was such a great learning process for me,” Alling said.

Alling worked at an early age in other industries as well, and learned from role models in the city like his father, as well as longtime Vestavia coaches Buddy Anderson and Steve Gaydosh. Alling played for both during his high school career and said he still quotes Anderson during his work. 

Alling said he had a good friend group and family during his time at Vestavia.

“Vestavia was an incredible place to grow up,” Alling said.

As an entrepreneur, Alling said he wants to see more people in Vestavia do the same.

“Go work for yourselves,” Alling said. “... I think there should be more entrepreneurs coming out of Vestavia.”

In the future, Alling said he wants to continue investing in his own kids and in the school.