As Jim Herbert drove out of Indiana across the state line to Michigan enroute to East Lansing to run start-up biotech firm Neogen in early 1982, he noticed a billboard just inside the Michigan border that showed a picture of a light switch and a caption that read, “Will the last one out of Michigan turn off the lights.”

The billboard was referencing the early 1980`s recession that gripped Michigan especially tightly.

“I just hoped there were enough resources left behind to start a company,” says Herbert, chairman and CEO of Neogen Corp.

Neogen, the publicly traded food and animal safety products company based in Lansing, has grown to over 300 employees at its headquarters with more than 500 worldwide and over $118 million in net revenues for its 2009 fiscal year. The company’s net revenues jumped 16 percent from the previous year.

Neogen also was named by Fortune magazine as one of the nation’s fastest growing small companies in 2009.

The growing market for the Neogen’s food safety test kits, which detect various food safety hazards like natural toxins and pathogenic bacteria, has kept the company’s stock trading at a multiple of earnings higher than most, according to Herbert. The company’s rising stock price allowed Neogen to offer a 3-for-2 stock split last fall—its third stock split since 2003.

“Despite the worldwide economy our growth has been steady. We know it’s not business as usual. Some of our customers are obviously hurting,” Herbert says. “But we have embraced a culture here where our employees really care about the company’s performance. Everyone is digging and working harder. We have added some automation in production to increase productivity without laying people off. So we have seen some cost savings without hurting our future growth.”

Herbert’s goal for Neogen is $200 million in revenue by 2013. That will mean doubling its growth in five years.

Part of Neogen’s future growth will continue to be fueled through acquisitions of other biotech firms, Herbert says. In fact, the company has acquired 17 other biotech firms in the past decade.

Neogen (NASDAQ: NEOG) has been aggressive in pursuing firms with products similar to their own, but with enough product separation to expand the company’s offerings. As an example, last fall Neogen purchased the BioKits product line, which consists mainly of test kits for food allergens, from a United Kingdom-based company for a reported $6.5 million.

“We look for companies and products with synergies to what [Neogen] is so good at. We decided we could purchase [BioKits] and get into these food allergens test kits quicker and cheaper than we could research and develop them ourselves,” Herbert says.

The manufacturing facility for BioKits also fit geographically within Neogen’s business plan since it is near Neogen Europe’s headquarters in Ayr, Scotland. The European Union countries have been an especially good source of business for Neogen.

Neogen’s global focus—with a distribution center in Mexico City, a production facility in China, and a just-announced company-owned distribution center in Brazil—does not take away from its hometown roots in Lansing.

“Lansing is good for us for a lot of reasons. I’m reminded of that every time I return from a major metropolitan area. The quality of life here is fantastic. We have all of the resources we need, but none of the hassle of dealing with a major urban center,” Herbert says.

“The proximity to a high-tech center of activity like MSU is vital. It’s a great place to find highly qualified employees. And finally, the work ethic here is tremendous. They believe in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay.”

The struggles of the state really haven’t been detrimental to the operations of Neogen, Herbert says.

About 40 percent of Neogen’s revenues come from outside the United States and most of those products are made in Lansing. The company’s food safety group is here, which means employees in sales, marketing and manufacturing are all locally based.

Some 43 research and development scientists work every day at the company’s industrial facilities on Lesher Place not far from Downtown Lansing on diagnostic test kit development.

“Contrary to what many think, recruiting new hires to the state is rather easy. Things are so bad in Michigan that they’re good if you have a job. Michigan is the best place in the world to live because your money will go further. That can be a good thing,” he adds.

Neogen has come a long way in the past 28 years, says Herbert, who was one of three original investors in Neogen, along with the MSU Foundation and the late Herbert D. (Ted) Doan, a businessman and philanthropist who was CEO of Dow Chemical in Midland.

“This biotech field was really cutting edge stuff. We were one of the first companies to identify food and animal safety and its potential. That gave us a tremendous head start on a lot of our competition. We built our own distribution system and had to develop our sales organizations. We have always taken great care in building customer relationships.

“We’ve made a lot of good decisions over the years. Our president, Lon Bohannon, has been instrumental in our growth. He pretty much runs the operations side of the business now,” says Herbert.

Herbert, 69, says he has no plans to slow down anytime soon. “I still enjoy my job. The challenges. The people. Why would I want to give it all up?”