Senior Leadership

Eric Johnson - V.P. of Sales

Hey Everyone! My name is Eric Johnson, VP of Sales for Midwest Industries. I started working for Midwest Industries in October of 2011. I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, IA and graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, IA where I double majored in Business and Finance. I interned as a market analyst for General Electric while in college and got my first job doing the same at a commercial door company in Wisconsin where I met my wife, Jenny. We have been married for 14 years and have 3 kids (daughter Brynn age 12 and twin boys Cale and Lane age 10). And we just got a new boxer puppy named Nash who is destroying our house one day at a time. I made the transistion from market analystics to sales and quickly realized my true passion is interacting with customers, developing markets, and building relationships. I quickly learned that our cutomers are tremendous advocates of our products, which are widely revered as the best on the market. This is a reflection of the amazing workforce and people that make up MWI. I am lucky to be in the unique position to observe and appreciate both the internal and external side of our company. I get to witness the people, processes and passion that goes into making our products Conversely, I get to develop relationships with our customers who truly believe in those products. The ShoreStation and ShoreLand'r brands simply could not be what they are today without the combination of both. The past 12 years with Midwest Industries have been the most enjoyable and rewarding experience of my career. I could not be more grateful to be working for such a reputable company and I look forward to many more years with all of you!

Jeff Ogren - Director of Human Resources

I began my employment with Midwest Industries, Inc. on August 3, 1989. One of my first jobs was to help the maintenance crew set up and then participate in the Byron Originals Fun Fly by driving a miniature army tank that had explosives strapped to it. That job was the most fun of any I’ve ever had at Midwest. After the Fun Fly I worked with Maintenance a little longer and then went to the Drill Room to learn how to run saws.

When a chance came to learn production data entry I volunteered and began a job that would lead to many other positions over the course of the next 10 years. Those positions would include data entry supervisor, production & inventory control, master scheduling, Planning Resource for Shore Station, Management Resource to at least 7 teams over the years as well as Training & Development Coordinator.

The 90s were a bit of a blur with all I was involved in. Several of us were active in our professional development efforts and were encouraged to join societies that helped to give us the educational foundations related to our responsibilities at Midwest. Some of us got involved with the American Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS).

APICS provided an education related to managing a manufacturing environment. I volunteered and served 2 terms as President of the Northwest Iowa Chapter of APICS and will always remember the work Tim Billings and I put in while serving on the board. I do confess we had a little fun representing our Northwest Iowa Chapter and Midwest at Reginal APICS events and will just leave it at that. True fact, I also met my wife Hope at an APICS President’s meeting in Kansas City, when she was the President of the Sioux Falls APICS Chapter. In July of 1999 I was asked if I would consider the Human Resource Manager position after Meg Holmes passed away. This was a huge step for me. I submitted my resume to Andy Brosius – President/CEO for review and asked for a little time to make a decision. I had worked with many in upper management before and had a great deal of trust in Andy and others in this group. I accepted the position and began my role as Human Resource Manager in August of 1999.

I am proud to say that those of us who committed to lead our company have also embraced changes to help our company be a leader in our area. The efforts to evolve our work culture have been difficult at times. I am proudest of the work we as a company have been able to do to create a culture that focuses on honesty, respect, and equality.

Because I’ve been around “awhile” I needed to do some research into my past to make sure I got timelines correct. I came across a quote I had made in an August 1990 performance evaluation that was interesting, and I think, still relevant today. “It is no longer a matter of how long I will be here, but what can I accomplish and how far I can go. I very much enjoy working with the people here”. This quote is as true for me today as it was then. However long I am at Midwest, and in whatever role I have, I will be engaged in doing what I can to help employees and our company be successful.

My time away from work is spent working on and enjoying 32 acres in the Loess Hills near Castana, IA. Hope and I had a dream to move back to the country for our later years. We made a 15-year plan to get this done and along the way we learned to reestablishing prairie land and build a homestead from scratch. Lastly, we love to spend any time we can get with our kids and grandchildren. They grow up very fast.

Life is a journey. Let’s make it a good one. Let’s make it meaningful.

Ryan Godbersen - CSO

Greetings team members! My name is Ryan Godbersen and I am the Chief Strategy Officer at Midwest Industriesas well as the Chief Executive Officer at Byron Originals, Midwest’s sister company. I am also a proud and passionate grandson of the founder of both Midwest Industries and Byron Originals, Byron Godbersen. I started working for Byron Originals and Midwest as a teenager during the summer months in various departments such as Assembly, Loading and Groundskeeping. I was also a tank driver during the final year Aviation Expo was held in Ida Grove. I most recently became active at Byron Originals in 2008 and Midwest Industries in 2019.

I was born and raised right here in Ida Grove, graduated high school in 1993 and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University in 1998. Shortly after college graduation, I felt the pull of the West and I loaded up my vehicle with gear and set off for destinations unknown.

I was into nature and landscape photography at the time and visited most of the national parks west of the Missouri River over three-month period until I finally ended up in the city of Bellevue located near Seattle in the beautiful state of Washington. Over the course of the following nine years, I worked in a management capacity for a few companies primarily focused on the oversite of teams engaged in corporate hospitality and commercial property management within the greater Seattle area.

I met my wife, Amy, on an airplane while traveling back to Seattle the summer of 2002. By June 2004 we were married and a few years after that we were blessed with our first child, Byron. After accepting the position of Director of Operations at Byron Originals here in Ida Grove in February of 2008, Amy, Byron and I made the move back to Iowa. In 2009 we were blessed with William, our second son.

Midwest has been a family owned and operated business for nearly 70 years. An accomplishment such as this is simply impossible without the hard work and determination of a committed workforce striving for excellence every day no matter what. I’m honored and grateful for the opportunity to work alongside you in our quest for success and the ultimate goal of hitting the 100-year mark. 30 more years is a long time. However, time flies when you’re successful and having fun so...LET’S GO!!!

Jason Buns - COO

Hello Everyone, for those of you who don’t know me, I am Jason Buns, our Chief Operating Officer at Midwest Industries, Inc. I have been here at Midwest since the end of 2005. Even though I feel like I just moved here, this is the longest I’ve lived or worked in any town or job. I grew up Mason City, IA, received my BA from the University of Iowa and MBA from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. With that said, I am 100% Hawkeye and 0% Husker. After college, I joined the Air Force and bounced around to a few different bases with some pretty cool assignments. Among those jobs, I had the opportunity to manage the Air Force’s largest airdrop mission out of Little Rock Air Force Base. I was the Chief of Transportation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and was the captain in charge Combat Readiness and Deployments at Offutt Air Force Base. During my last year of active duty, I met my future wife Maggie. We were both moving to Minneapolis so after a long distance Omaha to Iowa City relationship, we settled in the Twin Cities for a while where I went to work for Target Distribution.

At Target, it was a time of major expansion that required people to be mobile to help fuel the growth , so we moved to Kalamazoo, MI and then Cedar Falls, IA where I got the chance to help start up new distribution centers. Target was a great company focused on Leadership Development and bringing out the best in people. Some of our recent initiatives have been a combination of tools that we have tailored for our Midwest culture from Target. When the operations manager position opened here, we decided that it would be nice not to move for a while so we headed here to Ida Grove where we grew our family. I am very lucky to have a great wife and kids (Chance, Silvia, and Sophia). It’s awesome that they and other great kids around here are working at Midwest. When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, learning pedal steel guitar, losing at Fortnite and trying to find ways to exercise without getting hurt! I have loved my time here at Midwest and can’t believe how fortunate we are to live in such a small town with so many great people on our team. I am very proud to work for Midwest and amazed at the effort everyone here has put in to making this a great company with an awesome culture.

Jon Devitt - President & CEO

I have been an Iowan for most of my life and grew up on a farm in Estherville, Iowa. When I was 13, my folks moved me to Spirit Lake, IA where I spent my high school and college summers waterskiing, sailing, and fishing on Big Spirit Lake.

My career in the marine industry started at Mau Marine on East Lake Okoboji during my junior year of high school. I assembled ShoreLand’r trailers for Mau in the spring and did light mechanical work on boats during the summer.

I attended Iowa State University and have a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I met my wife, Robyn, at ISU and we have 2 daughters and 3 boys: Claudia (25), Olivia (23), Chase (22), Sam (20), and Alexander (12). We are excited to be grandparents in July.

My first job out of college was for a small company (Air Products Equipment) in Elk Grove Village, Illinois near Chicago. I jumped to 3D CAD consulting company (Rand Technologies) to follow my passion for technology. They eventually moved me to Plymouth, Minnesota. In early 1997, I had an opportunity to join my wife’s family’s business and started as a design engineer at Midwest Industries and was blessed to learn from the most talented engineer I’ve met, Byron Godbersen.

In my 25 years with the company, I have been involved in developing and marketing products that enhance boating and waterfront living. My family shares my passion for watersports, and we make the most of every weekend on the lake that we can. I am blessed to work with a great group of people at Midwest Industries and look forward to Leading the World to the Water with you all.