Mike Benner Email & Phone Number

Own and operate income and investment properties in Illinois, Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Hawaii.Purchase and rehab distressed properties. Make strategic equity investments. Provide commercial mortgages to small businesses.

Manufacture and Distribution of Automotive and Heavy Duty instrumentation. After an asset purchase by three management executives,( Mike Benner, Tom Walsh and Joe Plomin) a complete turnaround was accomplished. Manufacturing responsibility was returned to SW employees when a subcontractor in Juarez was terminated. A Mexican Corporation was established (Instrumentos Stewart Warner de Mexico). Management acquired a modern facility in Juarez and built an organization of more than 500 people including factory management, technical people and hourly workers to supplement the engineering, purchasing and marketing departments functioning in Chicago and El Paso. The reorganization of the manufacturing function was overseen by Mike Benner. Delivery performance rose from less than 40% line fill to more than 95%. ISO 9001 was achieved, Sensible materials management systems were instituted and supervised by Tom Walsh,another one of the principals. Excess and obsolete inventories were converted to usable parts and total inventoried reduced by 50%..As a result of these efforts, debt was cut by more than 35% and profitability increased dramatically.Marketing programs were developed that enhanced the value of the product line to distributors by providing attractive pricing, packaging, point of purchase displays, targeted new product development and advertising support. Marketing efforts were directed by Joe Plomin, another principal. An experienced Vice President of Sales (Mike McGrath) was recruited and given an equity stake in the company. His relationships with key distribution organizations in the automotive and heavy duty industry provided the company with an excellent aftermarket organization.The company was sold in 1998. Each dollar invested yielded a seventeen dollar return.

The company purchased and ran two properties which consisted of five commercial rental units-more than 10,000 square feet of floor space on a main Chicago suburban street.

Recruited by the British Conglomerate BTR (formerly British Tire and Rubber) to orchestrate a turnaround for a business that was loosing more than $2 million per year.Within three months key people were recruited as CFO and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Aggressive new product development began with parallel projects for improved purchasing and materials management systems. Problems with subcontractors and vendors were addressed to improve quality and delivery. As progress began to yield favorable results Corporate management in London put the company up for sale. A management group of three successfully negotiated a purchase of the assets in April of 1994 with outside financing from Continental Bank in Chicago.

Oak Brook, Illinois, Us

Developed business plan for the operation of the flagship business unit of Signal Division. Assembled and directed a team of highly qualified professionals Sales, Marketing, Engineering and Operations. New product development, quality and delivery improvement, coupled with successful marketing strategies resulted in consistently exceeding aggressive profit and sales targets. As a result of new product development 35% of 1988 sales consisted of products that didn't exist in 1987. Worked with Corporate on several acquisitions which included European Vehicular warning company. Co-inventor of vehicle lighting systems and controls -named on two patents.

Oak Brook, Illinois, Us

Responsible for sales and marketing efforts of CMI, Corp of Minturn Colorado. Principal products were Intoxilyzer breath testing instruments and radar speed detection devices.Managed distributor and rep organizations and coordinated with engineering and manufacturing on new product development and production scheduling to sales forecast. Traveled extensively to major city, county and state government agencies to demonstrate and train personnel using the equipment. Was selected first president of the Association of Radar Manufacturers and coordinated with the International Association of Chiefs of Police on the development of specifications for Radar devices.Also had responsibility for sales and marketing of Outdoor Warning Signals. These high-powered audible warning systems were sold world-wide to alert people of dangerous condition such as tornado and hurricane threats.The responsibility required surveys of cities, counties, nuclear power plants and golf courses. Additionally as Director of Detection Products oversees the National Service Organization for all the Signal Division products. This included hundreds of warranty service centers, technical publications and service bulletins and the in-house technical support staff.

Established in 1972 by Mike Benner and Jerry Berg, The Constable Equipment Company became one of the foremost U.S. Distributors of police equipment Customers included major city state and county agencies throughout the country. In addition to supplying these agencies with state of the art equipment, the Company provided training on the proper use of critical products ranging from non-lethal munitions for crowd control to audible and visual signaling equipment for emergency vehicle applications.Represented major manufacturers such as Smith and Wesson, Federal Signal. 3M, Sirchie Laboratories and Polaroid. As a factory distributor for Smith and Wesson, Constable was the principle supplier of handguns to Chicago police officers and many other police agencies. The company operated a total of five offices and retail locations in three states..Worked extensively with Research and Development Depart of the Chicago Police Department to provide specifications for-and ultimately supply-soft body armor to more than 13,000 officers. The Chicago Police Department's Research and Development group referred numerous agencies to Constable as an expert source of body armor information.Designed state of the art visual warning systems for police vehicles in conjunction with Federal Signal Corporation.Operated offices and retail stores in Chicago, Downers Grove, IL, Des Plaines IL, St' Louis Mo, and Arlington TX

As an industrial engineer, responsible for manufacturing methods, coordinating with design engineering on new product development. Integrated an acquired manufacturing facility from Indiana into the Illinois factory. Plant layout in an expanded facility. Assisted in union contract negotiations. District Sales Manager in Midwest Region out of Chicago traveling 8 states calling on distributors and end users. Later traveled 6 southwestern states out of Dallas. Consistently exceeded sales targets.

Mba, Busines

Bs, Behavioral Science

Education record