Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Podcast Ep. 19 - Wagon to Wood-Mizer - Ben Brydges, CEO of Wood-Mizer

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Elevate Podcast Ep. 19 - Wagon to Wood-Mizer - Ben Brydges, CEO of Wood-Mizer · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Elevate oddcast powered
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  by Braden.
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  This is your front row seat to the
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  stories of local leaders both non-profit
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  Every episode brings you leadership
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  insights,
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  strategies you can use today. And yes,
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  for updates and behind-the-scenes
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  content. Now, let's dive in.
• 0:42
  Hey everybody, Jason here with another
• 0:43
  episode of the Elevate powered by Braden
• 0:45
  podcast and this one's an awful lot of
• 0:47
  fun because I happen to be someone who
• 0:51
  loves to work with wood. Great. Somebody
• 0:53
  likes to build things. I also am an
• 0:55
  overgrown child and I love toys and I
• 0:57
  got to tell you our studio is really
• 1:00
  starting to to really blossom with some
• 1:02
  of these things, but I got to tell you
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  this particular thing, this toy, that's
• 1:05
  the coolest, right?
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  >> Awesome. That's one of the best things
• 1:07
  we've seen so far. So Ben, welcome and
• 1:10
  thank you for joining. Yeah, thanks for
• 1:11
  having me. Great to be here. You're
• 1:12
  currently with Wood Miser. Wood Miser,
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  sir. So I took over as a CEO about 6
• 1:17
  months ago and I'm loving every minute
• 1:19
  of it. That's all great. All right, so
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  we'll get to Wood Miser, part of your
• 1:22
  story, so we'll get to that. But let's
• 1:24
  go all the way back to the beginning.
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  Where are you from originally? I was
• 1:27
  born in Western New York, uh in town
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  called Lewiston outside of Niagara
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  Falls. So most people know it's close to
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  Buffalo. Okay. So snowy Western New York
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  and and all those uh brutal winters and
• 1:37
  everything, but you know, great people
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  and great food and yeah, it's a nice
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  area to grow up.
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  >> Small town? Uh yeah, smallish. Yeah,
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  smallish and I uh I lived there till I
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  was about 12 years old um and then uh I
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  know, I'm sorry. I I lived there till I
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  was about 8 years old. Moved around a
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  whole bunch of times actually as a as a
• 1:54
  kid and that's actually some of the
• 1:55
  things that have shaped me. Really?
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  So you're you're there till you're
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  eight. Yep. Where where do you go next?
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  Then we moved to Rochester, New York.
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  It's about an hour and a half drive away
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  from there. So
• 2:07
  my dad, this is a a longer story I
• 2:10
  guess, but my dad got a different job
• 2:12
  and transferred us to Rochester.
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  So I didn't have any family in
• 2:16
  Rochester. All the family is still based
• 2:17
  in Niagara Falls. Grandparents, aunts,
• 2:19
  uncles, cousins, all that. So Sure.
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  We're we're in Rochester and making the
• 2:23
  trip back to Niagara Falls, you know, a
• 2:25
  couple times a month to see everybody
• 2:27
  and and all that. And
• 2:28
  lived in Rochester for about five years
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  or so. That was until I was about 12.
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  Got you. And then moved to Northwest
• 2:36
  Ohio.
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  So to a town called Sylvania, outside of
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  Toledo. All right. So but but moving
• 2:41
  when you're in second grade, how I mean,
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  like you said, it kind of shaped you.
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  How how tough was that being a young kid
• 2:47
  to start over from scratch? Yeah, moves
• 2:49
  are tough on on kids and we did it a
• 2:52
  couple of times in in my childhood. All
• 2:55
  for good reasons and every place that we
• 2:58
  landed in opened up new opportunities
• 3:00
  and and gave us better opportunities and
• 3:03
  just kind of improved things for us I
• 3:05
  would say. So it was always beneficial.
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  Yeah. And
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  yeah, I've asked my kids and and my wife
• 3:10
  to move locations throughout my career
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  as well. Yeah. And I always go back to
• 3:15
  my experiences as a kid to maybe help
• 3:17
  guide them through it a little bit or
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  understand what the challenges are when
• 3:20
  I ask them to do something as difficult
• 3:22
  as that. Yeah, it's going to be
• 3:24
  interesting when we talk about your
• 3:25
  career history, kind of the moves that
• 3:27
  you've made. It's going to be a lot of
• 3:28
  fun to hear that. So all right, so New
• 3:31
  York, you end up in New York until you
• 3:32
  end up in Ohio. Right? And is Ohio where
• 3:36
  you end up going to high school? It is.
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  Yeah, so
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  lived in Ohio, went to school from
• 3:41
  seventh grade, graduated high school
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  there. Okay. And got a job
• 3:47
  at Dana Incorporated, actually right out
• 3:49
  of high school doing some data entry
• 3:50
  work. Nope. No. Yeah. So So, let's go
• 3:53
  through that a little bit, right? So,
• 3:54
  seventh grade through high school, do
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  you call Ohio home or is New York home?
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  Because there's been these years, you
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  know. I'm kind of a mutt. Okay. I've got
• 4:03
  different experiences in all these
• 4:05
  locations that really shaped me. Really.
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  So, so so home is kind of wherever you
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  were with your family, not necessarily a
• 4:11
  place.
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  >> Home is where my family is, you know,
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  and we've been in the Fishers area going
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  on 6 years this May. Okay. Um we moved
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  here right at the start of the pandemic.
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  Yeah. Signed an offer letter with
• 4:23
  another company in March of 2020. Moved
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  to our new house in May of 2020 here in
• 4:28
  Fishers. So, yeah, perfect time to
• 4:30
  change industries, change jobs, change
• 4:31
  states, the whole sure. Um but Fishers
• 4:34
  quickly became home. The Indianapolis
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  area quickly became home. Well, even
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  during a pandemic
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  >> when it's hard to meet people, hard to
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  get hugged in, things are closed, all
• 4:42
  the weirdness of that time.
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  It just quickly became home. There's
• 4:46
  just something about it. It's
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  interesting, like you said, those moves
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  shaped you and you can hear that now,
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  you know, this part in your career the
• 4:52
  last 6 years that this is home. So, home
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  wasn't actually a place. It was the
• 4:56
  people you were with. One family. Yeah,
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  and and just making the best of it and
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  getting new experiences and going out
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  and trying things and meeting new people
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  and you know, it it has given us an
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  opportunity in my family and then also
• 5:09
  as a kid or just
• 5:11
  bonding together. Sure. When you're
• 5:13
  moving to a brand new place and you
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  don't know anybody, you don't know
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  anything. Yeah. You have to get closer
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  and you kind of lean on each other and
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  you grow a little bit tighter. Yeah.
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  >> And it it's uh it's it's been good.
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  Yeah. It's not been, you know, super
• 5:24
  easy, but it hasn't been a big challenge
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  either and you know, I've always
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  embraced challenges and seen those as
• 5:30
  opportunities for growth and
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  putting my kids in those same positions,
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  I mean, they've taken it all in stride.
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  Like every move, they've done really
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  well. They're really good kids. They get
• 5:38
  plugged in really easily. They overcome
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  challenges. They're not afraid to try
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  stuff. So, it's shaped them, too, and uh
• 5:45
  yeah, I don't I don't regret any of it.
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  Yeah, it's terrific. It's great to hear
• 5:48
  that side of the story cuz a lot of
• 5:50
  folks talk about it a little bit
• 5:51
  differently, but you saw it as an
• 5:52
  opportunity. Absolutely terrific. So,
• 5:55
  high school, 7th through 12th grade in
• 5:57
  Ohio. You say you end up getting a job
• 5:59
  right out of high school. So, as you're
• 6:01
  finishing up high school, what were you
• 6:02
  thinking was going to come next? What
• 6:04
  was career? Were you going to go? Were
• 6:06
  you going to go the college path? Were
• 6:07
  you going to go right into the other the
• 6:08
  working world? What did it look like for
• 6:10
  I wasn't totally sure. You know, I would
• 6:12
  call it a a bit of a non-traditional
• 6:14
  path, but I've always been a hard
• 6:16
  worker, always. So, even, you know, when
• 6:19
  I first moved to Ohio, I was 13 years
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  old wanting a job, wanting to make a
• 6:25
  little extra money so that I can buy
• 6:27
  cool stuff.
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  >> Yeah. And uh I got a job as a caddy at a
• 6:31
  local country club and just worked that
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  for a couple years.
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  >> Oh, no kidding. Until I was old enough
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  to to get a real job, I guess, you know,
• 6:37
  on a payroll. Yeah. And then started
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  bagging groceries at a Kroger and did
• 6:40
  that, you know, for a few years through
• 6:42
  high school, but I'd always work or done
• 6:45
  something to make a little extra cash or
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  try something. Even when I was in New
• 6:49
  York,
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  um and I was 9 years old, I think is
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  what I was,
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  um
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  we lived in a subdivision that was kind
• 6:58
  of on a busy street.
• 7:00
  Full of kids. I mean, it was a great
• 7:01
  subdivision to grow up in.
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  Um but outside the subdivision, it's on
• 7:04
  a bit of a busy street and down that
• 7:06
  street was a convenience store. And I
• 7:08
  just remember the older kids, you know,
• 7:10
  the teenagers, whatever they feel to
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  ride their bikes or walk to this
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  convenience store,
• 7:15
  buy all kinds of candy and slushies and
• 7:17
  all this cool stuff and they come back
• 7:18
  and I'd be super jealous cuz I was too
• 7:20
  young to go do that. My mom wouldn't let
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  me go on the busy street to go get it.
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  So, you know, in talking with my
• 7:25
  parents, I'm like, I think we have a
• 7:26
  problem to solve here.
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  My uh my parents had a Sam's Club
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  membership. So, I remember my mom gave
• 7:33
  me a bit of a startup loan
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  to go to Sam's Yeah. And buy a bunch of
• 7:38
  candy.
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  So, I bought candy in bulk, took it
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  home, painted up a wagon call it the
• 7:43
  candy mobile made up a price list no
• 7:46
  loaded his wagon up with candy yeah yeah
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  and then my little brother is about 3
• 7:49
  years younger than me he and I would
• 7:52
  take this wagon all around our
• 7:53
  neighborhood selling candy to all the
• 7:55
  neighborhood kids. That's a nice 50%
• 7:57
  margin markup. And we did that for I
• 8:00
  don't know 3 years or so is that all kid
• 8:02
  that oh yeah it was great I mean as a
• 8:04
  kid you're making you're thinking you're
• 8:06
  rich you're taking all kinds of money I
• 8:08
  bought fishing equipment video games
• 8:09
  bikes the whole thing is You you were a
• 8:12
  young Warren Buffett right if you had a
• 8:13
  story about Buffett was like right you
• 8:15
  know he buys the nickel pack of five
• 8:17
  sticks of gum sells them two two cents a
• 8:20
  piece or whatever the case was or sell
• 8:21
  like candy at night.
• 8:23
  >> Yeah and pretty soon the kids weren't
• 8:24
  going to the convenience store they're
• 8:26
  actually knocking on my door asking me
• 8:29
  to open up the candy mobile cuz they're
• 8:30
  wanting something after dinner or
• 8:32
  whatever that was so it was kind of cool
• 8:33
  so you yeah so we did that for a couple
• 8:35
  years and then I was talking to my dad
• 8:37
  about you know stuff that he did as a
• 8:38
  kid and
• 8:39
  he gave me an idea where I'd set up a
• 8:42
  carnival in my front yard. No kidding.
• 8:44
  >> So I was 11 and 12 years old Okay.
• 8:48
  >> and through the winter I would build
• 8:50
  carnival games in my basement.
• 8:52
  And then in the summer once or twice a
• 8:55
  year I would have a carnival in my front
• 8:57
  yard. Okay. Big front yard no backyard
• 8:59
  all big front yard and I'd set up
• 9:01
  carnival games all throughout the front
• 9:03
  yard and I actually hired some of my
• 9:05
  neighborhood friends to run some of the
• 9:06
  games. You had like your grandma gotten
• 9:08
  involved?
• 9:09
  >> My grandma was around the little fishing
• 9:10
  game we set up this big curtain and go
• 9:12
  to the dollar store and get all these
• 9:13
  toys and you know the little trinkets or
• 9:15
  whatever.
• 9:16
  >> Sure. She had
• 9:17
  a dowel like a wooden dowel and a string
• 9:20
  and a little magnet or whatever and kids
• 9:21
  would throw it over the curtain and she
• 9:23
  would hook a toy and would give it back
• 9:25
  and every game was a quarter.
• 9:26
  It was cool you know a bunch of money
• 9:28
  that way paid all the neighborhood kids
• 9:29
  and I took my cut it was fun. Man the
• 9:31
  candy a dealer also the the perveyor
• 9:34
  Yeah I don't know
• 9:35
  we did that it was fun and like I said,
• 9:38
  it gave me a little bit of extra cash,
• 9:39
  and that's that's what I did a lot of in
• 9:41
  in New York area. How great though of
• 9:43
  your parents to be able to help foster
• 9:46
  that? For sure. There's a lot of folks
• 9:47
  see that as like a you know, a waste of
• 9:49
  time or whatever the case is, but you
• 9:51
  know, for you this was this was a big
• 9:52
  deal. 9 to 12, these are formative
• 9:54
  years. It was a great I mean, it was
• 9:56
  such a good lesson because you know, I
• 9:58
  never
• 9:59
  wanted for anything. I never went
• 10:00
  without, right? But if I wanted
• 10:02
  something that was a little nicer than
• 10:04
  what they were willing to pay for, yeah,
• 10:06
  then I had to earn it, and that was a
• 10:07
  good lesson to say, this is what you
• 10:10
  need to do to achieve. I'll try that for
• 10:12
  That's right. So, it was a good lesson.
• 10:14
  Yeah, it's interesting. It'll be fun as
• 10:15
  we talk a little bit about family a
• 10:16
  little bit later as well, how maybe
• 10:18
  that's translating now to your kiddos.
• 10:21
  All right, so high school, not sure
• 10:22
  which way you're going to go, yeah, but
• 10:24
  you get a job, you know, cuz you you had
• 10:26
  worked, you know, all the way through
• 10:27
  Kroger, those types of things. So, you
• 10:29
  get a job right out of high school. So,
• 10:31
  where are you working? What are you
• 10:32
  doing? And kind of where's your story
• 10:34
  going next? Yeah, I wasn't 100% sure
• 10:36
  where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to
• 10:38
  be in engineering, and I actually
• 10:40
  started out as a bioengineering major.
• 10:43
  You know, I thought I wanted to be an
• 10:44
  orthopedic surgeon or some kind some
• 10:46
  kind of a doctor. Um, and I thought,
• 10:49
  well, I'm pretty decent at math and
• 10:52
  figuring things out and solving
• 10:53
  problems. So, it could be something in
• 10:54
  engineering that could lead me into the
• 10:55
  medical field. Um, but I got a job at
• 10:59
  Dana right out of high school doing data
• 11:01
  entry. They were in the middle of a of a
• 11:03
  database upgrade where they were taking
• 11:05
  all their old drawings, uh, manual
• 11:08
  drawings for Yep, drive shafts and axle
• 11:10
  components, and we're taking all of that
• 11:12
  information putting in a database so
• 11:13
  that they can look up part numbers and,
• 11:16
  you know, reduce complexity and all
• 11:17
  those good things, and I just took an
• 11:19
  assignment to do data entry. So,
• 11:21
  literally plugging numbers off of a
• 11:22
  drawing into a database. Sure.
• 11:25
  >> And it was supposed to be 6 months or
• 11:27
  something like that, but, you know, I
• 11:29
  just worked so hard I got it done in a
• 11:30
  couple of months. Oh, no kidding. And
• 11:32
  yeah, and they liked my work ethic, so
• 11:34
  then they started asking me to do some
• 11:36
  other stuff. So then I started to write
• 11:38
  formulas and do some things for a
• 11:39
  steering shaft database that would
• 11:41
  actually calculate lengths for steering
• 11:43
  shafts and make engineers' jobs easier.
• 11:45
  Okay, so I did that. Um and then
• 11:48
  fortunately they had an opportunity for
• 11:50
  me to stay on as a co-op. And I just
• 11:53
  started working in the design room at
• 11:55
  Dana. No kidding.
• 11:56
  >> "Well, if this kid can learn these
• 11:58
  things in the databases and we like his
• 12:00
  work ethic and all that, let's see if he
• 12:02
  can learn Yeah.
• 12:03
  Right. So I started working on 2D
• 12:06
  drawing changes. I sat with a designer
• 12:08
  for a couple of weeks, just kind of
• 12:09
  looked over his shoulder for a while,
• 12:11
  learning as much as I could. Yeah. And
• 12:13
  yeah, I started making some 2D drawing
• 12:14
  changes and the next thing you know, I'm
• 12:16
  making 3D models and all those things.
• 12:18
  And
• 12:18
  I ended up doing that all through
• 12:20
  college. No kidding. And yeah, so I was
• 12:23
  taking the first first year I only went
• 12:26
  to school part-time, couple of classes a
• 12:28
  semester cuz I wasn't quite sure what I
• 12:30
  wanted to do. And I know that I didn't
• 12:32
  really want to waste a lot of college
• 12:34
  tuition money if I wasn't really all in
• 12:36
  and my heart wasn't into it. I didn't
• 12:37
  want to I didn't want to do.
• 12:40
  So I took some part-time classes and
• 12:42
  then through the work at Dana I realized
• 12:44
  what I wanted to do and that's
• 12:45
  mechanical engineering. I got you.
• 12:46
  >> So switched majors and enrolled
• 12:49
  full-time and I ended up going to
• 12:51
  University of Toledo. Okay. Um really
• 12:53
  good engineering school, great program,
• 12:55
  good pipeline to automotive companies as
• 12:57
  well.
• 12:58
  Um especially Dana.
• 13:00
  And uh yeah, that was kind of the start
• 13:03
  into into my engineering career, but I
• 13:05
  worked full-time pretty much my entire
• 13:08
  college career. So very non-traditional
• 13:10
  path.
• 13:11
  >> No kidding. I'd work
• 13:13
  I'd either work at
• 13:15
  at night and go to classes during the
• 13:17
  day or vice versa depending on what my
• 13:19
  my class schedule looked like. And they
• 13:21
  worked with you that entire time.
• 13:22
  >> They did and they were really good to me
• 13:24
  and not only did they work with me, Uh
• 13:26
  junior year, there was an opportunity
• 13:28
  for a full-time job. And uh
• 13:31
  I interviewed for it, and they offered
• 13:32
  me the full-time job. So, I actually
• 13:33
  started, you know, getting a real salary
• 13:35
  and real benefits, and you know, kid
• 13:37
  real 401k at the age of 21, and uh and
• 13:41
  still going to school. So, that's when I
• 13:43
  started going to school more at night
• 13:45
  and working during the day. And then,
• 13:48
  you know, through Dana's tuition
• 13:49
  reimbursement program, they actually
• 13:50
  paid for the rest of my college
• 13:51
  education. So,
• 13:52
  >> What What's a great story. I mean I
• 13:54
  mean, what a good opportunity. A lot of
• 13:55
  folks One of the things you said there
• 13:57
  that I think is terrific, especially for
• 13:58
  some of the younger listeners,
• 14:00
  you weren't going to go, you know, spend
• 14:02
  a lot of money if you didn't know where
• 14:04
  your heart was going to be, right? All
• 14:05
  right, but you had a chance to go
• 14:06
  somewhere and get into Dana. I'm
• 14:08
  curious, right out of high school,
• 14:10
  getting into Dana, what did that look
• 14:12
  like? Was it Was it a an ad online? Was
• 14:15
  it Did you know somebody there? How did
• 14:17
  you
• 14:17
  >> Yeah. Yeah, so fortunately, my mom
• 14:19
  actually worked in IT at a different
• 14:21
  division in in Dana. And uh she heard
• 14:23
  they were going through this software
• 14:25
  program, and she was involved in it. And
• 14:28
  uh she made the connection, I
• 14:29
  interviewed, got hired, and and they
• 14:31
  just Okay. I'm going. And then,
• 14:34
  uh my mom left the company a few years
• 14:36
  later, but I continued on. Yeah. So, but
• 14:39
  Dana probably 17 years or so. No
• 14:42
  kidding. You know, I talked to somebody
• 14:44
  a couple weeks back, and they One of the
• 14:46
  things that I I picked picked up as a as
• 14:48
  a dad, he had said that he wasn't sure
• 14:51
  what he was going to do coming out of
• 14:52
  high school and going into college,
• 14:54
  either. And his dad put him with four or
• 14:56
  five of his friends from around town, a
• 14:59
  banker, a construction guy, all these
• 15:01
  different things. He got a chance to
• 15:03
  meet some of those business leaders that
• 15:05
  his dad knew. Yeah. And at the end of
• 15:07
  the day, he could he could understand
• 15:08
  what that experience might look like. He
• 15:10
  said it was a big deal. Right? So, you
• 15:12
  get your mom gets you into Dana, and
• 15:14
  you're there 17 years. So, what's that,
• 15:16
  you know, starting with what you did,
• 15:18
  and then moving into some that drafting,
• 15:20
  what's your career progression look
• 15:22
  like? And are you always in Ohio this
• 15:24
  entire time?
• 15:25
  Uh it took a couple of different uh
• 15:27
  turns through the career, actually. Um
• 15:29
  and with engineering, I I wanted that to
• 15:32
  be the good base that I had in my
• 15:34
  career. I always wanted in to lead
• 15:37
  people or lead a business or be an
• 15:39
  entrepreneur or something. Okay.
• 15:41
  >> You know, way back to when I was a kid,
• 15:43
  that's just what's in my blood. That's
• 15:45
  what I like to do. You were doing it
• 15:46
  naturally. And I I
• 15:48
  curious about that, right? So, back when
• 15:50
  you're nine and you're you're the the
• 15:52
  candy dealer. Yeah, exactly. Right? So,
• 15:54
  you're you're selling the candy, getting
• 15:55
  kids hooked, and making some money.
• 15:57
  Was that Was that kind of just something
• 15:59
  that came to you naturally? And was your
• 16:01
  dad an entrepreneur, mom entrepreneur?
• 16:03
  She was in IT, but was that just
• 16:05
  something that was just natural to you?
• 16:06
  >> Just kind of natural. You know, it it it
• 16:09
  was an idea that we had just kind of
• 16:11
  talking through the the problem. Yeah,
• 16:13
  but no, my parents were not
• 16:14
  entrepreneurs at all. Uh my mom was in
• 16:16
  IT, and my dad uh was a ceramic
• 16:19
  engineer. I wish I still don't quite
• 16:21
  know what that means.
• 16:23
  And then he got his MBA, and he got in
• 16:25
  the sales and marketing, and a little
• 16:27
  bit operations later in his career.
• 16:29
  Um
• 16:30
  but, you know, and that's another
• 16:32
  interesting thing, too. I I got to see a
• 16:34
  lot of their path and hard work and
• 16:37
  sacrifice and kind of
• 16:39
  delaying immediate success or
• 16:42
  gratification for what could be much
• 16:44
  bigger later on if you just put the work
• 16:46
  in, you build the foundation. Yeah,
• 16:47
  sure. I have very unique experience and
• 16:53
  um I guess ability to say that I saw
• 16:56
  both of my parents graduate college.
• 16:58
  Oh, no kidding.
• 16:59
  >> Yeah.
• 17:00
  Yeah, so so they went to school later in
• 17:02
  their careers. They did. Okay.
• 17:04
  >> They did. So, when I was young, um my
• 17:07
  father went into all the family trade,
• 17:10
  which was pipe fitting. So, my
• 17:11
  grandfather, my uncles, and my cousins,
• 17:14
  they were they were pipe fitters. Yeah.
• 17:17
  That's just kind of what you did, right?
• 17:19
  That was the the career path and my dad
• 17:21
  did that for a number of years. And it's
• 17:23
  a it can be a dirty dangerous job, you
• 17:26
  know, working in the elements, things
• 17:27
  are hot. Yeah, sure. You have crowded
• 17:29
  spaces, all those things.
• 17:31
  And uh I think at one point in time, you
• 17:34
  know, he was on a layoff period and just
• 17:36
  decided this wasn't really for him
• 17:38
  anymore. And
• 17:40
  you know, he said, "I got to do
• 17:41
  something different."
• 17:42
  >> Yeah. So, he decided to go back to
• 17:45
  college
• 17:46
  full time.
• 17:48
  So, here he is he with two young boys
• 17:51
  Yeah. and a wife and a house Yeah. and
• 17:54
  he bets on himself and my mom supports
• 17:57
  him and says, "Let's go do this."
• 17:59
  So, he actually went to while we were
• 18:01
  living in Lewiston, New York, he went to
• 18:04
  a school
• 18:05
  further away in New York called Alfred
• 18:07
  University. And he did that for a few
• 18:09
  years getting his ceramic engineering
• 18:11
  degree. No. Kiss us Sunday afternoon,
• 18:14
  eat August goodbye, go to school full
• 18:17
  time for four and a half days and come
• 18:19
  back Friday afternoon.
• 18:21
  Be with us the whole weekend and do it
• 18:22
  all over again Wow. until he was done.
• 18:24
  Wow, what a story. So, yeah, I mean,
• 18:27
  like I said, he better himself and and
• 18:30
  you know, we were all behind him 100%. I
• 18:31
  was too young to really know the
• 18:33
  magnitude Yeah, you know, I was probably
• 18:36
  five or six when he started doing it.
• 18:39
  Um but yeah, him him getting his ceramic
• 18:41
  engineering degree and then being an
• 18:43
  engineer in a manufacturing plant is
• 18:45
  what took us from Lewiston to Rochester.
• 18:48
  That was the first big move. Wow. Yeah.
• 18:50
  And then he got his MBA while we were in
• 18:52
  Rochester. And then once he got done
• 18:55
  with that, took a job in sales and
• 18:56
  marketing and that's what moved us to
• 18:58
  Ohio. Got you. And then you know, once
• 19:00
  he got more established and
• 19:02
  I started to grow up a little bit and my
• 19:04
  brother started to grow up a little bit
• 19:05
  and get a little more independence,
• 19:06
  that's when my mom decided, you know,
• 19:08
  it's my turn, so I'm going to go to
• 19:09
  school. So, we you she did so that she
• 19:11
  went to Bowling Green State University
• 19:13
  and got her degree in computer science.
• 19:15
  So, also I remember very vividly as a
• 19:18
  young kid watching both of them
• 19:20
  graduate. Yeah, it's kind of an
• 19:22
  interesting Yeah, and I'd be able to say
• 19:24
  Yeah, generally doesn't happen. No, it
• 19:26
  doesn't, but you know, I it gave me a
• 19:29
  really good perspective on hard work and
• 19:30
  sacrifice and Yeah, helps do what you
• 19:33
  need to do to give your family a better
• 19:34
  life. What a great basis to be able to
• 19:36
  That's to grow up in. That's awesome.
• 19:38
  So, 17 years at Dana. Knew you wanted to
• 19:41
  be entrepreneur. You wanted to lead
• 19:43
  people. Is that So, where does that
• 19:45
  journey take you? Like what what do you
• 19:46
  end up doing there?
• 19:47
  >> Yeah, a number of different jobs, you
• 19:49
  know, and I always
• 19:51
  felt that if I wanted to lead people, I
• 19:54
  needed to educate myself and get enough
• 19:56
  experience to be able to help them.
• 19:58
  You know, be able to guide and share
• 20:00
  some of my challenges, share some of my
• 20:02
  experiences. So, I felt that if I'm
• 20:04
  going to be on top, I'm going to be my
• 20:06
  strongest if I build a wide base.
• 20:09
  So, I took a lot of different
• 20:10
  assignments, a lot of lateral moves, a
• 20:12
  lot of projects, a lot of you know, just
• 20:15
  just different experiences to build that
• 20:16
  nice wide base so that as I grow and go
• 20:19
  up that corporate ladder, I'm a much
• 20:21
  stronger leader. Mhm. So, I did a number
• 20:25
  of different jobs, whether it was
• 20:26
  applications engineering or sales
• 20:28
  engineering,
• 20:30
  program management, did operations for a
• 20:32
  while,
• 20:33
  had the really unique experience of
• 20:36
  leading a project to build manufacturing
• 20:39
  facility in Toledo from the ground up.
• 20:42
  Oh, wow.
• 20:43
  >> So, yeah, so that was really cool.
• 20:45
  That that was an interesting story. I
• 20:47
  was actually working
• 20:49
  in operations as the operations manager
• 20:51
  for our drive shaft division at Dana for
• 20:54
  the four wing facility. Okay. Really
• 20:56
  massive million square foot facility.
• 20:59
  About half of it was on the drive shaft
• 21:01
  side and that's the part that I I
• 21:02
  oversaw.
• 21:03
  And I was doing that for about a year.
• 21:07
  And
• 21:08
  you know, one day the the VP of
• 21:10
  operations comes to grab dinner with me
• 21:12
  and and my boss is director of ops and
• 21:15
  that wasn't really out of the ordinary.
• 21:17
  It was nothing nothing new. He he's a
• 21:19
  mentor of mine and good relationship
• 21:20
  with him.
• 21:21
  But one day he came and you know,
• 21:23
  invited me into my boss's office and my
• 21:26
  boss is sitting there on the other side
• 21:28
  of his desk and
• 21:29
  uh the VP of ops is sitting on the other
• 21:31
  side of the desk and they invite me into
• 21:33
  the office. It's big office. Think about
• 21:35
  like a 100-year-old manufacturing
• 21:36
  facility. It has really big cavernous,
• 21:38
  you know, plant manager director of ops
• 21:41
  office and I walk in
• 21:42
  and uh
• 21:44
  my boss had this button underneath his
• 21:46
  desk that you see in movies that you
• 21:47
  just push that button and the door
• 21:49
  closes behind you. So I
• 21:51
  So I walked in and I hear this door
• 21:53
  close behind me and I'm like, this isn't
• 21:54
  just some ordinary dinner, is it? Yeah.
• 21:56
  And I sit down and and the VP of ops is
• 22:00
  like uh
• 22:01
  got something to tell you about, but
• 22:02
  before I tell you, I need you to sign
• 22:04
  this. And he slid an NDA across the desk
• 22:05
  and
• 22:07
  signed the NDA and he told me about the
• 22:08
  project and it was a really cool
• 22:09
  project. It was
• 22:11
  um building a manufacturing facility in
• 22:13
  Toledo on the original site where the
• 22:17
  Jeep Wrangler was being built.
• 22:18
  Oh, wow.
• 22:19
  >> And the new building
• 22:21
  um would be from ground up. It was a
• 22:23
  spec building. It was 100,000 square
• 22:25
  feet and the job was to build it to
• 22:27
  300,000 square feet. All the
• 22:29
  manufacturing equipment, people, the
• 22:31
  processes, all those things and get it
• 22:33
  up and running for the next generation
• 22:34
  Jeep Wrangler, which is the new
• 22:36
  Wranglers that you see driving around.
• 22:38
  Yeah, sure so. Really cool experience to
• 22:40
  to build something and to lead people
• 22:43
  and to do something that really hadn't
• 22:44
  been done in the company in a very long
• 22:46
  time. It's not often that you're
• 22:47
  building a manufacturing facility. So it
• 22:50
  was cool experience. Got to work a
• 22:51
  little bit um in understanding how
• 22:53
  public and private funding and money and
• 22:55
  all that works out and it was really
• 22:57
  cool. Learned a lot. Yeah, so so you're
• 22:59
  in Fort Wayne. By the way, I love the
• 23:01
  button underneath his desk to be able to
• 23:02
  close the door. Yeah, that's Hey, you
• 23:04
  probably makes you a little bit nervous
• 23:05
  as what's going on. Is this good or is
• 23:07
  this about or not ordinary dinner? Yeah,
• 23:09
  this is not this could be good, could be
• 23:10
  bad. I don't know what it is yet, but I
• 23:12
  know it's something it's flash on.
• 23:13
  That's awesome. All right. So, from Fort
• 23:15
  Wayne, you pick up and go back to
• 23:17
  Olathe,
• 23:18
  at this point had you been married at
• 23:20
  this point with Oh, yes. Yeah, I kept
• 23:21
  been married
• 23:23
  got married pretty young actually. I got
• 23:25
  married
• 23:26
  uh
• 23:27
  my senior year of college. So, I still
• 23:28
  had another year of college to finish
• 23:30
  out with my wife. My wife and I actually
• 23:31
  met
• 23:32
  when we were barely 18 years old. I
• 23:34
  think I was 18, she was 17, seniors in
• 23:36
  high school.
• 23:37
  We met at Kroger actually. Was she
• 23:39
  working there? Also kind of so I was
• 23:42
  working customer service in the front
• 23:44
  end. So, I was kind of like the bagger
• 23:46
  supervisor, cashier supervisor, count
• 23:48
  all the money, all those things at the
• 23:50
  front end and I'm standing behind the
• 23:53
  counter one day and
• 23:55
  I'm kind of in the back and the HR
• 23:58
  leader who's you know, one of the
• 23:59
  assistant managers is standing next to
• 24:00
  me and and comes this girl and she goes
• 24:03
  to the front and the HR manager walks
• 24:05
  around see what she's what she wants and
• 24:09
  they're talking for a couple minutes.
• 24:10
  Girl walks out. HR manager comes back
• 24:12
  and his guy look at her like, "What she
• 24:14
  want?" And she's like, "She wants a
• 24:15
  job." I'm like, "Hire her."
• 24:19
  So,
• 24:20
  that's the story of how you know, my
• 24:22
  wife and I got the opportunity to meet.
• 24:23
  So, couple months later she started and
• 24:25
  I probably asked her out like as soon as
• 24:27
  I could like week after she started and
• 24:30
  yeah, we've been married a little over
• 24:31
  20 years and been you know, together for
• 24:34
  25, 6 years, 26 years. Yeah, that's
• 24:37
  phenomenal. You I talked about that
• 24:38
  story before and I my wife and I
• 24:40
  actually met probably in middle school,
• 24:42
  started dating when I was
• 24:44
  a senior, she was a junior and that's
• 24:46
  awesome. You know, married at 21, 28
• 24:48
  years later and all that kind of stuff.
• 24:49
  So, I'm so only that story. I'll bet it
• 24:51
  got you anymore and Yeah, it's it's a
• 24:53
  little more rare than it was it was a
• 24:55
  lot in the old days.
• 24:56
  >> Yes, yeah. So, we're blessed with three
• 24:57
  awesome kids and yeah, it's great. And
• 24:59
  they've been
• 25:00
  with me through all of it, you know,
• 25:02
  along for the ride and the whole thing.
• 25:03
  Super supportive. Yeah, I'm great. Yeah.
• 25:06
  So, Fort Wayne, going back to Ohio,
• 25:08
  right? So, now you're opening this new
• 25:10
  facility over there and you're getting a
• 25:11
  chance now cuz it is the role like a
• 25:13
  general manager role? What what what's
• 25:15
  the role? It's all like a senior
• 25:16
  operations
• 25:17
  >> Okay. program manager and role, kind of
• 25:19
  like a hybrid thing.
• 25:20
  >> Okay. Yeah. But you get a chance to
• 25:21
  oversee all of this and now you're back
• 25:24
  in Ohio and so how does that go and then
• 25:26
  like where does the story take you next?
• 25:28
  Yeah, ton of challenges. Um did it for
• 25:31
  I don't know, three, four years,
• 25:33
  something like that. Okay. Learned a lot
• 25:35
  um
• 25:36
  about what it takes to build a team from
• 25:38
  nothing.
• 25:39
  I think the other thing that I learned
• 25:41
  through that exercise was yep, I'm very
• 25:44
  willing and I will always bet on myself
• 25:47
  and I'm very willing to accept
• 25:49
  challenges no matter
• 25:50
  how long the odds are or the likelihood
• 25:54
  of failure versus success if that ratio
• 25:56
  is off. Okay.
• 25:58
  Um but the thing that surprised me was
• 26:01
  how different that mentality is to other
• 26:05
  people. Like there were some people that
• 26:06
  I really wanted to go get
• 26:09
  and be on my team to help me that
• 26:12
  weren't willing to take the risk. Mhm.
• 26:14
  And they weren't willing to to be the
• 26:16
  first one in.
• 26:17
  Okay. So, that was kind of surprising to
• 26:20
  me that not everybody had that same
• 26:22
  level of confidence or approach or or
• 26:25
  willingness to take a risk. Sure. You
• 26:27
  know, that that was just a a different
• 26:28
  experience for me, I would say. Yeah, of
• 26:30
  course it's a little bit different, I
• 26:31
  imagine. And so you you end up over
• 26:34
  there, three, four years in Ohio.
• 26:36
  Somehow though, you end up in 2020
• 26:38
  coming in Indiana, right? During the
• 26:41
  pandemic. So, what what's it look like
• 26:43
  from leaving Ohio before you get over
• 26:46
  here to Fishers? Sure. So, um at Dingna,
• 26:49
  I'd been there a number of years. It it
• 26:51
  pretty much all I knew. Yeah. I had one
• 26:54
  little short stint at another company
• 26:57
  doing sales engineering
• 26:59
  down in Charlotte, actually. Okay. Um
• 27:01
  but aside from that, it was really all
• 27:03
  Dana and that's all I knew. And I felt
• 27:06
  like if I really am serious about
• 27:09
  getting this nice wide base of
• 27:11
  experiences and I really am serious
• 27:13
  about climbing the ladder, then I should
• 27:15
  probably test myself. Mhm. Can I be
• 27:17
  successful in other companies or is this
• 27:20
  all I know? Can I bring my experiences
• 27:22
  and apply them to other companies or
• 27:24
  what can I learn from other companies?
• 27:25
  Yeah. So a recruiter contacted me with
• 27:29
  an opportunity to go be a director of
• 27:31
  program management for a company called
• 27:33
  Fram Group. So if you know Fram filters,
• 27:36
  yeah, sure. It's squirrel flows and all
• 27:37
  this. Yeah, so and that was still in
• 27:39
  town,
• 27:41
  Toledo area. And I had a chance to be a
• 27:43
  director and like I said, go apply my
• 27:45
  learnings and my skills and experiences
• 27:47
  to another company and see if I can be
• 27:48
  successful. So
• 27:50
  took that chance, did not have to
• 27:51
  relocate the family, so that was another
• 27:53
  That's essentially what I say. So yeah,
• 27:55
  yeah. Did that for a couple of years. Um
• 27:58
  PE ended up buying that company, took it
• 28:01
  in a different direction, wasn't really
• 28:02
  something that I was interested in doing
• 28:04
  long-term.
• 28:06
  And a recruiter happened to call me with
• 28:08
  a pretty similar opportunity uh for a
• 28:11
  company called Dormakaba. Yeah, sure.
• 28:13
  And Indianapolis. Yeah. So that was
• 28:16
  probably November of 19 that those
• 28:18
  conversations started and by March of
• 28:21
  2020, I was signing the offer letter and
• 28:24
  taking a bet. So yeah, it was a Saturday
• 28:26
  in March of 2020, I signed the offer
• 28:28
  letter, sent it all in and I think it
• 28:29
  was like the following Tuesday when the
• 28:31
  whole world closed, shut down,
• 28:33
  everybody's going home and you know, the
• 28:34
  world was turned on its head and
• 28:36
  you know, my wife and I just looked at
• 28:38
  each other and we're like, we're still
• 28:39
  going to do it. Yeah. Like we're still
• 28:40
  taking this leap of faith and just, you
• 28:42
  know, we're doing it. Yeah. So we did.
• 28:44
  That's awesome. So you end up where you
• 28:45
  are here in 2020 during the pandemic.
• 28:49
  So, what's
• 28:50
  your Dormakaba, right? You're there.
• 28:52
  Yep. And by this time you've
• 28:56
  you've led some teams, you've opened a
• 28:58
  facility, as you said, this wide base. I
• 29:00
  like sharing that notion that wide base,
• 29:02
  right? To bet on yourself a little bit.
• 29:04
  But ultimately, you end up at Wood-Mizer
• 29:07
  as a CEO. Right? So, how does that
• 29:10
  transpire? How do you end up finding
• 29:12
  your way over to Wood-Mizer and getting
• 29:13
  into that role?
• 29:15
  Yeah, so at at Dormakaba, the way the
• 29:18
  business is structured,
• 29:20
  my last role I was the senior executive
• 29:24
  in North America. I kind of hit the the
• 29:26
  top that I could do aside from, you
• 29:29
  know, moving to to Switzerland. Yeah, no
• 29:32
  kidding. So, so you're you're running
• 29:33
  the United States operation, for
• 29:35
  example, right? And the next step could
• 29:37
  be moving to Switzerland. Right.
• 29:39
  >> Yeah, and it wasn't really something
• 29:41
  that I saw myself doing, especially in
• 29:43
  this stage of life. So, I kind of knew
• 29:45
  that I either you know, stay in this
• 29:47
  role for
• 29:49
  however long
• 29:50
  that it makes sense for my family, which
• 29:52
  my youngest is only in seventh grade, so
• 29:54
  it's going to be a while. Yeah. Or if
• 29:57
  I'm ready to take the next step and if I
• 29:59
  want to, you know, move forward, then
• 30:01
  I'm going to have to unfortunately look
• 30:02
  elsewhere. Yeah. And it was a a tough
• 30:04
  decision because, you know, I got great
• 30:07
  team that, you know, I was surrounded by
• 30:09
  and sure, you know, I was had the
• 30:11
  ability to add some people to that team
• 30:13
  that I really enjoyed working with.
• 30:15
  >> So, it was tough decision, but
• 30:17
  ultimately a recruiter presented a
• 30:19
  really good opportunity at Wood-Mizer
• 30:23
  and again, didn't didn't have to
• 30:24
  relocate. That was not going to be an
• 30:27
  option for me cuz relocating out right
• 30:28
  now at this point in my life and just a
• 30:31
  great opportunity to be CEO. Sure. It's
• 30:34
  terrific to hear. I think a lot of times
• 30:36
  people will have some opportunities
• 30:38
  presented to them and like you said,
• 30:40
  they'll they'll tend to pass. Yeah. Or
• 30:42
  they don't want to be the first one in.
• 30:44
  But you can just hear in your journey
• 30:46
  and it starts back when you're nine, I
• 30:47
  think, right? That you're willing to go
• 30:49
  bet on yourself. But then you've also
• 30:51
  wanted, you know, you wanted to be
• 30:53
  entrepreneurial. You knew you wanted to
• 30:54
  lead people. You knew eventually you
• 30:56
  wanted to do that. And so if that's
• 30:58
  where your cup's going to get full.
• 31:00
  Working at a job is not going to do that
• 31:03
  for you, right? And so but that's always
• 31:05
  a it's a hard decision for people. They
• 31:07
  get comfortable. Sure, right? And they
• 31:09
  get comfortable. So you bet on yourself.
• 31:12
  You take a role. Is the role actually,
• 31:14
  is it for the CEO? Wood-Mizer okay. So
• 31:16
  you go in interview and you land the
• 31:19
  role. And so how long you've been at
• 31:21
  Wood-Mizer? Been six months. Six months.
• 31:23
  Yeah, it's been great. I I've loved
• 31:24
  every minute of it. You know, and when
• 31:26
  it's been a a while in terms in in the
• 31:29
  making. A lot of a lot of discussions.
• 31:31
  Um long interview process. So it's it's
• 31:33
  good that they did their diligence and
• 31:35
  yeah, all that and I got to do my
• 31:36
  diligence on the company as well. So it
• 31:38
  was really good. Um I've been like I
• 31:40
  said, I've enjoyed every minute When I
• 31:42
  first was presented the role,
• 31:44
  I didn't know anything about sawmilling
• 31:46
  or the industry or anything like that.
• 31:48
  So I had to try and quickly get up to
• 31:50
  speed and yeah, making sure that I I
• 31:52
  lean on the people around me to help
• 31:54
  educate me on the industry. But um like
• 31:56
  I said, it's been it's been a great six
• 31:58
  months, but it's gone fast. You know,
• 31:59
  some days like feels like yesterday I
• 32:01
  started and other days it feels like
• 32:03
  I've been there for years. And that's
• 32:04
  just a testament to how great the people
• 32:06
  are and the culture and
• 32:08
  the willingness they're they have you
• 32:10
  know, get me up to speed and help me
• 32:11
  out. Yeah, that it's it's been great.
• 32:13
  And you mentioned the entrepreneurial
• 32:15
  aspect of it. And I think that's one of
• 32:16
  the most fun things about this role is
• 32:19
  with our size of company and where we
• 32:22
  are in the journey and in the the
• 32:24
  history of of the company. I think we're
• 32:26
  at a really good point where we can, you
• 32:28
  know, take some opportunities and
• 32:29
  transform the business and really set
• 32:31
  ourselves up for this next phase of of
• 32:34
  growth with Wood-Mizer. Yeah, it's all
• 32:36
  it's fun. So for those that don't know,
• 32:38
  obviously you've got a toy up there,
• 32:39
  sawmills, that kind of stuff. But, give
• 32:41
  us Tell us about Wood-Mizer. What do you
• 32:43
  guys do? Yeah, so we we make sawmilling
• 32:45
  equipment, accessories and blades that
• 32:47
  that go for it as well. And uh it's
• 32:49
  everything from, you know, roughly
• 32:51
  $3,000 hobby sawmill all the way up to
• 32:54
  multi-million dollar highly customized
• 32:57
  heavy industrial solutions.
• 32:59
  >> Sure. So, what we got up on the shelf
• 33:00
  there is an LT40, and that's kind of
• 33:02
  like the go-to when it comes to
• 33:04
  sawmilling. It's that that lighter
• 33:07
  uh higher volume application sawmill
• 33:09
  when you're just getting out of the
• 33:10
  consumer area and you want to make a
• 33:12
  little money with it or you want, you
• 33:14
  know, throw a little more more volume
• 33:15
  through it. Uh but, it's great. I mean,
• 33:17
  it we we really serve the entire, you
• 33:20
  know, wood processing industry. Mhm.
• 33:22
  Like, when it comes to sawmilling, so
• 33:24
  it's great. It's been a lot of fun.
• 33:25
  Yeah, so serve the entire all across the
• 33:28
  United States, but serving clients all
• 33:30
  over the globe?
• 33:31
  >> All over the world. So, our headquarters
• 33:32
  is right here in Indianapolis, and we've
• 33:34
  been here a little over 40 years. Uh
• 33:36
  that's when the company was established.
• 33:37
  We have significant operations in a
• 33:39
  European headquarters in Poland. Okay.
• 33:42
  And then we have branches and dealers
• 33:44
  all around the world, Australia, South
• 33:46
  Africa, Sri Lanka, South America and
• 33:48
  Chile, all over.
• 33:50
  So, it's quite a presence. I mean, it's
• 33:51
  a it's a global product.
• 33:53
  >> Yeah. I think our our dealer network is
• 33:55
  probably the best in the industry, I
• 33:57
  would say, in terms of service and specs
• 34:00
  and uh support and all the things,
• 34:01
  right? Okay. Yeah, it's a lot of fun,
• 34:03
  you know. I think the cool thing is the
• 34:05
  ability to serve this wide range of
• 34:08
  customers. Yeah. Everybody from a
• 34:10
  hobbyist who's got a really small mill,
• 34:13
  relatively,
• 34:14
  sitting in his driveway or in his
• 34:15
  backyard that wants to make a little
• 34:17
  project to somebody that's building a
• 34:19
  cabin Mhm. or to somebody that's, you
• 34:22
  know, sawing lumber on the weekend to
• 34:24
  make some extra money to all the way up
• 34:26
  to full-on businesses. I mean, we do a
• 34:28
  really good industrial solution. Um and
• 34:32
  some of it has some sustainability
• 34:33
  aspects to it as well. We're sure
• 34:35
  responsible deforestation and you know,
• 34:37
  we have another project that we we just
• 34:40
  went live with where we'll take a a raw
• 34:43
  log timber and goes into into this
• 34:46
  massive
• 34:48
  system, I'll say, and into this building
• 34:50
  and it creates wood shavings for poultry
• 34:53
  farms and horse farms and then also
• 34:56
  creates pallets for shipment of their
• 34:59
  poultry product. Yeah. With zero waste
• 35:01
  through the entire system. No timber
• 35:03
  waste. Makes shavings for their own
• 35:04
  poultry, they are able to sell the
• 35:05
  shavings for the rest of the industry,
• 35:08
  custom cuts all the wood, Yeah.
• 35:10
  automatically makes the pallets, stacks
• 35:12
  the pallets and they can use it for
• 35:14
  shipping as well as their poultry
• 35:15
  production. Man, that's all your old
• 35:16
  waste. That is cool. So, it's fantastic.
• 35:18
  That's true. Yeah, obviously only 6
• 35:20
  months in, right? Big global company,
• 35:22
  dealers all over the world. Have you
• 35:24
  been any place yet? Have you been to
• 35:26
  Poland, any of those places? Do you have
• 35:28
  plans to travel to the ceremony of the
• 35:30
  the company? Yeah, I've been to quite a
• 35:31
  few places domestically here already.
• 35:33
  I've been to Poland twice. I've got
• 35:35
  plans for much further away
• 35:37
  here later in the year.
• 35:39
  But yeah, it's been good and we've got a
• 35:41
  good team really everywhere. Okay, now
• 35:43
  it's hard I would say to get a
• 35:46
  consistent culture when you're a global
• 35:48
  company and and spread so
• 35:50
  Yeah, widely. But when I meet people
• 35:53
  here in Indy or on Oregon or Georgia or
• 35:55
  New York or over in Poland or I talked
• 35:57
  to the team in South Africa or South
• 35:59
  America, everybody just really loves
• 36:01
  this company and wants to see it
• 36:03
  succeed. They're all no kidding. They're
• 36:04
  all bought in. They It's It's something
• 36:07
  about the industry and the camaraderie
• 36:09
  and this familial aspect to it where
• 36:12
  everybody just feels welcome. That's it.
• 36:14
  That's interesting. You know, so we
• 36:15
  usually normally I'll go into
• 36:17
  technology, talk about that. But let's
• 36:18
  skip tech for a minute. Let's talk about
• 36:20
  culture. Yeah. And because when you
• 36:22
  think about, you know, culture and you
• 36:24
  think about community and those types of
• 36:26
  things, community is, you know, who
• 36:28
  you're surveying, perhaps some
• 36:29
  nonprofits, but also the culture.
• 36:32
  It's always interesting when you've got
• 36:33
  somebody you're headquartered here in
• 36:35
  Indy, and you've got a good chunk of
• 36:36
  your organization here, and then people
• 36:39
  spread everywhere else, right? But
• 36:41
  Wood-Mizer is a brand. Wood-Mizer is a
• 36:43
  company. It It's a Like you said, it's
• 36:45
  kind of the Kleenex on the industry,
• 36:47
  right? But that comes down to culture.
• 36:50
  So, I know only 6 months in, and you're
• 36:52
  experiencing some of it, but how are you
• 36:55
  continuing that culture and any thoughts
• 36:57
  of how you're kind of building that
• 36:59
  brand across your own team, across the
• 37:01
  the globe, basically?
• 37:02
  >> Yeah, absolutely. Um so, one thing I do
• 37:04
  anytime I take a new role is I put on my
• 37:08
  historian hat, and I try to learn as
• 37:10
  much as I possibly can about the
• 37:12
  company, where it started to where we
• 37:14
  are today, cuz I think a lot of figuring
• 37:17
  out where we need to go in the future is
• 37:19
  figuring out where we've been, so that I
• 37:21
  don't repeat mistakes, or I don't take a
• 37:23
  wrong turn, or ignore the learnings of
• 37:26
  the past. So, I did a lot of listening.
• 37:28
  I I've done everything from big town
• 37:31
  halls with Q&A sessions to more targeted
• 37:34
  small group round tables of six to eight
• 37:36
  people. I did
• 37:37
  seven or eight of those sessions,
• 37:39
  one-on-ones, just impromptu
• 37:41
  conversations, out traveling and meeting
• 37:43
  people, just to learn and listen and
• 37:45
  figure out what's important to people.
• 37:47
  Yeah, you know, what opportunities do
• 37:49
  they see? What things are are we able to
• 37:52
  compromise on? What can't we compromise
• 37:54
  on? Like, what are the the givens? What
• 37:56
  are the things that make Wood-Mizer so
• 37:57
  special and so great? Sure. What are the
• 37:59
  things that maybe we've um kind of
• 38:02
  steered away with in the last several
• 38:03
  years that maybe we come back to, or
• 38:05
  where are these opportunities that maybe
• 38:06
  we haven't quite capitalized on? Just
• 38:08
  all these things. Um
• 38:10
  because when I
• 38:11
  want to put a strategy forward, I want
• 38:13
  to make sure that people have
• 38:15
  contributions to that, and they see some
• 38:17
  of the feedback, some of the input come
• 38:19
  to life in that strategy.
• 38:20
  >> Yeah. You know, because once you get
• 38:22
  this strategy feeling like it's theirs
• 38:25
  and more more buy-in, you're going to go
• 38:27
  so much faster and so much better
• 38:28
  because you've got that that built-in
• 38:30
  support, that built-in buy-in. Yeah. And
• 38:33
  and then for me, it's all about
• 38:35
  communication moving forward, being as
• 38:37
  transparent as I possibly can on the
• 38:40
  why. Why are we doing things? And I
• 38:42
  think that has a double meaning really.
• 38:44
  It's why are we making the decisions
• 38:46
  that we're doing?
• 38:48
  So then they start making sense and
• 38:49
  people like I said start get more bought
• 38:50
  in.
• 38:51
  Um but then also why are we doing this
• 38:54
  in general? Like why are we in business?
• 38:56
  Yeah. You know, and it's it's what does
• 38:58
  our product do for people? And it helps
• 39:01
  hobbyists really show their creativity
• 39:04
  and develop something cool. Or it helps
• 39:05
  people support a livelihood or create a
• 39:08
  business and it helps people solve real
• 39:11
  problems and real challenges.
• 39:13
  And I think that's just so powerful and
• 39:15
  so awesome. Yeah. And it's important for
• 39:18
  all of our employees to really
• 39:19
  understand what it is we do because you
• 39:21
  can lose sight of that when you're
• 39:22
  sitting at a desk and you're just
• 39:23
  looking at spreadsheets or you're
• 39:24
  looking at a PowerPoint presentation or
• 39:26
  you're looking at some financials. You
• 39:28
  forget why you're actually doing it or
• 39:29
  what it actually means. So I talk a lot
• 39:32
  about the customer and the product and
• 39:35
  the benefits of it. You know, what are
• 39:37
  we really doing for people? And it's
• 39:39
  important that we never lose sight of
• 39:40
  that. Yeah, and great answer by the way.
• 39:42
  And so you can hear it just in the story
• 39:44
  as we've talked here for the last, you
• 39:46
  know, half hour, 40 minutes. It's just
• 39:48
  you can hear your leadership style. And
• 39:52
  what I really took away from that is you
• 39:53
  listened for a long time. history. You
• 39:56
  know, I'm going to study the history.
• 39:57
  What what have we done before, right?
• 39:59
  Where are we going to go in future?
• 40:01
  Become a historian of the business. But
• 40:03
  then also setting the direction. This is
• 40:05
  where we're going and this is why we're
• 40:06
  going there. And yeah, at the end of the
• 40:08
  day, you guys have cool saws that take
• 40:11
  big pieces of wood and make them smaller
• 40:13
  pieces. Oh yeah, right? Super cool. But
• 40:15
  at the end result, there are people who
• 40:17
  leverage those things that saw that that
• 40:20
  have a business that supports their
• 40:21
  families and their organization that
• 40:23
  supports their clients. And all of these
• 40:26
  things are what happened because you and
• 40:29
  your team put this product out there.
• 40:31
  And so, it's great to hear that, you
• 40:33
  know, kind of how you've done that so
• 40:35
  far.
• 40:35
  >> Mhm. And I know also, I think here
• 40:37
  locally, you and your wife are beginning
• 40:39
  to get a little bit involved with one of
• 40:41
  the nonprofits as well, right? Yeah,
• 40:43
  we're we're we're starting to get
• 40:44
  flowing again, and we did a lot more
• 40:46
  of this type of work when we were in
• 40:47
  Ohio. We were a little more established,
• 40:49
  kind of knew where to go, had a little
• 40:51
  more time on our hands, too. We're fully
• 40:53
  heavily involved into to youth sports.
• 40:56
  Um we've done a little bit uh with youth
• 40:58
  youth sports here, but as the kids are
• 40:59
  growing up, it that's not really, you
• 41:01
  know, fitting us anymore.
• 41:03
  Um but, my mom actually battled cancer 2
• 41:05
  years ago. Mhm. And she's a survivor.
• 41:07
  She had ovarian cancer, so uh she's
• 41:10
  she's uh clean for about a year now uh
• 41:12
  of the cancer, so that's great.
• 41:14
  >> hear. We're just starting to get more
• 41:15
  involved uh in that, and uh IU has a
• 41:19
  great uh cancer uh research foundation,
• 41:21
  so we've been getting involved with
• 41:22
  that. Yeah, that's awesome. Terrific,
• 41:24
  good to hear. So, when you're thinking
• 41:25
  about community, it's great to hear how
• 41:27
  you think about that, how you're
• 41:28
  building community for your business and
• 41:30
  the culture. But, also, when you think
• 41:32
  about it, I mean, you guys are producing
• 41:34
  products that that are, you know,
• 41:37
  cutting trees and doing different
• 41:38
  things.
• 41:40
  And a lot of folks think of that as not
• 41:41
  being technical and more technology.
• 41:43
  But, I'm assuming you guys are really
• 41:45
  moving in a direction with technology.
• 41:47
  So, what's going on in your business and
• 41:49
  how's tech evolving? Yeah, it's it's
• 41:51
  been interesting. Um you know, some of
• 41:54
  the stuff that we're doing on the
• 41:55
  industrial side is not unique
• 41:57
  necessarily to us, but when you're
• 41:59
  talking about optimizing a lot, you get
• 42:01
  this log, and it's not a perfect, you
• 42:03
  know, piece of wood. Sure, it's usually
• 42:05
  it's not uniform. There's a lot of
• 42:06
  defects. There's a lot of changes in
• 42:08
  geometry.
• 42:09
  Um so, the challenge is is how do I get
• 42:11
  the most out of this log? How can I
• 42:13
  increase my productivity? What are the
• 42:15
  most optimal cuts and sizes that I need
• 42:17
  to do? How do I need to orient it? Um
• 42:19
  so, incorporating, optimizing
• 42:21
  technology, scanning technology into our
• 42:23
  equipment has been huge. Like I said,
• 42:25
  it's not unique to Wood-Mizer. We
• 42:27
  partner with a lot of people to to get
• 42:29
  this done. Um but that's definitely a
• 42:32
  way that technology's helped with the
• 42:33
  sawmilling industry. Okay. And I think
• 42:35
  the unique uh thing that we're looking
• 42:38
  at now is how can I take this heavy
• 42:40
  industrial optimization and kind of
• 42:42
  scale that down for people that are in
• 42:44
  more of the lighter industrials. Yeah,
• 42:46
  sure, it get more acceptable to people.
• 42:48
  Uh yeah, or more available to people.
• 42:50
  How do you shrink that technology,
• 42:52
  right, to be able to take it down to the
• 42:54
  the smaller mega or accessible? Yeah.
• 42:57
  Yeah, and everybody's talking about AI,
• 42:59
  so there is some AI involved in that.
• 43:01
  There's grading technology as well that
• 43:03
  we incorporate with our more industrial
• 43:05
  equipment. So, when you're talking
• 43:06
  specifically on hardwood, um typically
• 43:09
  you've got, you know, people at the end
• 43:10
  of the line that physically look at
• 43:12
  these boards and grade it, and that's
• 43:13
  how they determine the the level of
• 43:15
  quality show with that's coming off. Um
• 43:17
  but there's technology now that we're
• 43:19
  incorporating into our equipment that
• 43:21
  can do that automatically. Yeah, I know.
• 43:22
  It can look for knots. It can look for
• 43:23
  defects. It can look for splits. It can
• 43:25
  look for all these different things uh
• 43:27
  within the boards. And uh I think it's
• 43:29
  just going to continue to evolve and
• 43:31
  move even quicker over the years. I
• 43:33
  mean, AI is the biggest uh topic, and
• 43:36
  and we're developing our strategy
• 43:37
  relative to AI, and I tasked the team
• 43:40
  with looking at three things. One, how
• 43:42
  do we need to be using AI on our
• 43:44
  business operations? So, how do we need
• 43:46
  to be functioning more efficiently?
• 43:47
  Yeah. How do we incorporate AI more
• 43:50
  efficiently into our equipment and serve
• 43:52
  customers in that regard? And then,
• 43:54
  lastly, but certainly not least, is the
• 43:56
  cybersecurity aspect of it. I mean, I'm
• 43:58
  sure that we're well aware of all the
• 43:59
  threats that AI brings to us. And you
• 44:02
  look at what Wood-Mizer is as a company.
• 44:04
  You talked about it, we're global. So,
• 44:06
  that means global exposure.
• 44:07
  >> That's right. And dealing with a lot of
• 44:09
  people in a lot of different countries
• 44:10
  and consumers and customers trust us
• 44:13
  with their data. Yeah. So, it's not just
• 44:15
  our data, it's our customers' data. So,
• 44:16
  it's all these different things wrapped
• 44:17
  into this big huge topic of
• 44:20
  cybersecurity.
• 44:21
  And it's, you know, I'd say one of the
• 44:23
  three areas that we need to be be
• 44:24
  looking at in terms of AR. Yeah, it's
• 44:26
  it's I'll tell you great answer, by the
• 44:28
  way. A lot of folks talk about
• 44:29
  efficiencies and gains and those things.
• 44:32
  You get it. But there's also a lot of
• 44:34
  danger.
• 44:34
  >> There's a lot of folks out there trying
• 44:36
  to do things that aren't necessarily
• 44:37
  great for your business.
• 44:38
  >> Right. And so guarding against those is
• 44:40
  terrific. It's directly product
• 44:41
  cybersecurity.
• 44:42
  And so, as we think about
• 44:45
  obviously moving on in in your your
• 44:47
  career here, being in Fishers, being
• 44:49
  here 6 years, married a married a young
• 44:52
  lady that I actually met at Kroger, and
• 44:55
  you mentioned family. So, let's talk a
• 44:56
  little bit about family. So, kids for
• 44:58
  you guys? Kids, yeah. Yeah, this is a
• 45:00
  really big year in the Bridges
• 45:02
  household. So, I've got three kids, a
• 45:04
  daughter and two sons. Uh daughter's 17,
• 45:07
  the boys are 16 and 13. So, got a house
• 45:09
  full of teenagers. Yeah, a fridge that
• 45:11
  we're just constantly filling with food.
• 45:13
  So, I drive so, yeah.
• 45:15
  Um but this year, so just a couple of
• 45:17
  days ago, my 16-year-old son officially
• 45:20
  got his driver's license. So, he's out
• 45:22
  there driving on his own.
• 45:24
  >> Yeah, quite. All right, yeah. So, he's
• 45:25
  doing great. Uh
• 45:27
  raised the blood pressure and the stress
• 45:28
  levels in in me a little bit.
• 45:30
  >> Oh, yeah. We got that going on. And then
• 45:32
  obviously my daughter has an 18th
• 45:34
  birthday coming up. So, that's big and
• 45:35
  high school graduation and then she's
• 45:37
  off to IU here in August. Yeah.
• 45:41
  Yeah, she's a lot going on in her house.
• 45:43
  A lot a lot of going on with the kids.
• 45:44
  You said youngest was 13.
• 45:45
  >> Yeah, he's 14. He's loving life as a
• 45:47
  13-year-old kid.
• 45:48
  >> Okay. Likes to play golf with me, have
• 45:50
  fun with his buddies. Yeah. Yeah, he's
• 45:52
  doing great. Not a bad life. All right,
• 45:53
  so before we close out there, let's just
• 45:55
  talk about fun. I mean, so we talked a
• 45:56
  little bit about kids there. So, if
• 45:58
  you're not at Wood-Mizer and enjoying,
• 46:00
  you know, doing that tech stuff, what do
• 46:02
  are you guys doing for fun? Yeah, we
• 46:04
  just like spending time together. We
• 46:05
  we're kind of a sports family. All the
• 46:07
  kids have had sports interests. So, my
• 46:10
  daughter played soccer for a number of
• 46:11
  years. So, I was always at the soccer
• 46:13
  field watching her on trips and and that
• 46:15
  was always great. I mean, just having
• 46:16
  some good windshield time with your
• 46:19
  teenage daughter just talking through
• 46:22
  everything. So, that was an awesome
• 46:23
  experience. Now, I'm getting that same
• 46:24
  experience with my son who's 16 playing
• 46:27
  rugby. So, we're okay. We're going, you
• 46:29
  know, all over the place for rugby now
• 46:31
  and he's loving that and you know, he
• 46:32
  has this unique ability to pick sports I
• 46:35
  know nothing about. You know, he did
• 46:38
  lacrosse before and he did swimming for
• 46:40
  a summer and and yeah, he's into rugby
• 46:42
  and I've got to learn all these new
• 46:44
  rules and uh sure, new terminology and
• 46:45
  everything. So, it's cool. It's a
• 46:47
  learning experience for me. I get to
• 46:48
  meet a lot of great people. I get to
• 46:49
  watch him do something he really enjoys.
• 46:51
  So, so that's awesome.
• 46:53
  Um and then my son, like I said, he he
• 46:55
  he's tried a bunch of different things,
• 46:56
  too. He's played soccer. He's played uh
• 46:58
  baseball when he was really, really
• 46:59
  young. Does some intermural basketball
• 47:01
  and now he's playing golf with me. So,
• 47:04
  So, we we we do that. Um I'm a huge
• 47:06
  Buffalo Bills fan because I grew up in
• 47:08
  New York. I got to have to be. Yeah. And
• 47:10
  my kids have never lived in New York. My
• 47:11
  wife's never lived in New York. But,
• 47:13
  I've successfully brainwashed all four
• 47:15
  of them to be Buffalo Bills fans.
• 47:16
  >> Oh, no kidding.
• 47:17
  >> So, they're really living here. Yeah,
• 47:18
  they're feeling all the same heartbreak
• 47:19
  that I feel just as if they lived there.
• 47:21
  So, Sundays during football season, it's
• 47:23
  kind of what we do. That's that's family
• 47:25
  time. You know, it's time to kind of
• 47:27
  rest from the week that we've had and
• 47:29
  get ready for the week ahead. So, we
• 47:31
  usually make a bunch of food or get some
• 47:33
  good takeout or something like that and
• 47:34
  we sit in front of the TV for a few
• 47:36
  hours and we watch football. Well, you
• 47:38
  know, you have you've had a really good
• 47:39
  quarterback for a while. We could use
• 47:40
  one of those. He's saved our franchise.
• 47:43
  He's saved your franchise. I'd like to
• 47:44
  see that that's not an exaggeration.
• 47:46
  >> Yeah, I I'd like to see him win. He
• 47:48
  seems like a good kid and it's he's a
• 47:49
  lot of fun to watch as well. So, he's
• 47:51
  fantastic. Be there to watch him win.
• 47:53
  But, we would have to the Colts, too.
• 47:55
  So, we can we can honestly say we have
• 47:56
  two teams in our house now, so it's
• 47:58
  great. Yeah, I think everybody if you
• 47:59
  live here you got to like the Colts a
• 48:01
  little bit. They're They're They're
• 48:02
  lovable. Hopefully they'll play well
• 48:03
  next year. Daniel Jones will come back
• 48:05
  and then you know, thank you. The couple
• 48:08
  of takeaways that I picked up, right? So
• 48:11
  one I think you were the first person
• 48:12
  who was nine that started selling
• 48:14
  something as additions. Right? That
• 48:16
  That's actually a super cool story, but
• 48:18
  you can see the entrepreneurial spirit
• 48:20
  started at a young age. I like your
• 48:22
  concept of having kind of that wide
• 48:24
  base. Right? That That's an interesting
• 48:26
  concept that a lot of folks maybe should
• 48:28
  think a little bit about. And then also
• 48:30
  the idea that you know, you wanted to
• 48:32
  lead people. You wanted to be an
• 48:34
  entrepreneur and you were willing to go
• 48:36
  out and and to do those things because
• 48:38
  that's what's going to fill up your cup.
• 48:40
  Sure. And it circles back, you know, you
• 48:42
  you also had an experience, you know,
• 48:44
  watching your parents, you know,
• 48:45
  graduate from college, right? And seeing
• 48:47
  that and kind of having that be part of
• 48:49
  your story that you had a chance to
• 48:51
  experience at a young age and then of
• 48:53
  course the role that you had with your
• 48:54
  mom.
• 48:55
  Those foundational things, you can just
• 48:56
  see how that's kind of evolved. Yeah,
• 48:58
  for sure. You know, over time. And so
• 49:00
  thank you, man. Congratulations on the
• 49:02
  role. Likewise. Enjoy Enjoy that role
• 49:05
  and and I appreciate you being on the
• 49:06
  show. Thanks for having me. It's been
• 49:07
  great. Yeah, love it.