RVIA named nine candidates running for open board of director seats, including five manufacturers and four suppliers.
The board will fill four manufacturer seats from the five candidates and one supplier seat from the four candidates.
Voting by RVIA members will open Sept. 7 and run through Sept. 28. RVIA said results will be announced in early October.
New members elected will begin serving their three-year terms Jan. 1, 2022.
Member companies receive one vote, which can be cast by the member company’s official representative.
Manufacturer candidates include:
Coley Brady, Alliance Group
Coley is co-founder & President of Alliance RV. Prior to co-founding Alliance RV in 2019, he was the vice president of sales for Heartland RV, a division of Thor Industries, where worked since 2004. Coley served on the RVIA Park Model RV Committee from 2014-2015. He now serves on the board of the Elkhart Boys and Girls Club and dedicates time to many community organizations including St. Pius X Catholic Church, the Center for Autism at the Logan Center, and the Historic Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Indiana. Coley earned his degree in business administration at the University of Notre Dame.
Matt Buckman, Lance Camper/REV Group
Matt is vice president and general manager of Lance Camper Inc. in Lancaster, California, a part of the Rev Recreation Group. He made his start in the RV industry in 1997 at Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. in the role of regional sales manager. He joined Dutchmen Manufacturing, a Thor Company, in 2003 as general manager before joining Coachmen Industries in 2008 as regional sales manager. His career continued at Rev Recreation Group from 2011-2019 where he was the National Sales Director for the towable division, VP of sales for Holiday Rambler & Monoco, and vice president and general manager for Goldshield Fiberglass Inc. Matt has served on the RVIA Board of Directors since 2020. He earned his degree in marketing from the University of New Mexico.
Ryan Elias, Leisure Travel Vans/Triple E RV
Ryan has been VP and general manager of Triple E Recreational Vehicles/Leisure Travel Vans since 2011. He has also been this company’s assistant general manager (2009-2011) and marketing coordinator (1998-2007). Prior to joining the team, he also served as assistant general manager of Leisure Travel Vans (2008-2009) and director of marketing for Lode King Industries (2007-2008). Ryan has been extensively involved in volunteer activity with the RVIA, serving on the Board of Directors since 2016 and serving as chair of the Emerging Leaders Coalition. He has also served on several RVIA committees, including the Market Information Committee, Canadian Coalition, Governance Committee, and RVX Taskforce. Ryan is also a member of the Board of Directors of both the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and the Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association. He serves as a committee member of the Winkler Business Improvement Area. Ryan earned his degree in business administration from Red River College.
Vikram Kaul, Xtreme Outdoors
Vikram is president and co-owner of Xtreme Outdoors, the manufacturer of Little Guy Trailers. Prior to joining the RV industry in 2019, Vikram had extensive experience in investment banking, working for UBS (2001-2004), Merrill Lynch (2004-2006), and Deutsche Bank (2006-2010). In 2011, he moved on to the healthcare industry, where he spent the next seven years in finance and business development roles at Manipal Education Americas before moving into the home care business in 2017 as the co-owner of MaxCare HCBS LLC dba Complete Homecare PA, Xtreme Homecare Inc., and Complete Care Management, as well as COO of Xtreme Care LLC. Vikram has served on the RVIA Board of Directors since 2019 as well as the Campground Strategic Planning Task Force and the Model Year Introduction Date Task Force. He is a volunteer for the Wise for Life not-for-profit and donated 1,200 N-95 masks to the Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, a finance degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and his MBA from New York University.
Brett Randall, Columbia Northwest, Inc. d/b/a Aliner
Brett is president and CEO of Columbia Northwest, Inc./Aliner in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. He has more than 20 years of experience in the manufacturing industry – for 17 of those years he served at Traco as an operator and principal. He has served on the RVIA Board of Directors since 2018. For 15 years he was on the board for Life’s Work of Western PA, was board chair for the University of Pittsburg IEE (2014-2017), is a board member of Paragon Foods (2017-present), member of YPO Pittsburgh Chapter (2005-present) and involved with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh (2013-present). Brett received a degree in social and political history from Carnegie Mellon University and is an Alumnus of the Advanced Education Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Supplier candidates include:
Mike Cheney, Crane Composites, Inc.
Mike is the vice president and general manager of Crane Composites in Channahon, Illinois. Prior to joining the RV industry in 2014 as the Crane Composite’s director of supply chain, he held a number of procurement and supplier quality management positions with Cabot Microelectronics (2001-2014) and engineering positions with Emerson Power Transmission (1998-2001). Mike has served on the RVIA Supplier Committee since 2020. He is also a volunteer and team coordinator for Feed My Starving Children and a member and sponsor of the RV Women’s Alliance. Mike earned his degree in mechanical engineering from Bradley University.
David DeGraaf, Volta Power Systems
David is the CEO of Volta Power Systems in Holland, Michigan. Prior to Volta, he spent 21 years in the automotive industry, most recently as CEO of Gill Industries (2018-2020). He was also president of Faurecia (2014-2018) and held multiple positions including vice president and general manager at Johnson Controls (1999-2014). David served in the United States Air Force in multiple roles from 1994-1999. He has extensive experience with social and civic organizations, including as a board member for the Indiana Automotive Council, the West Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and USA Team Handball. He has also served on the Academy Selection Committee for Congressman Hoekstra and as an Admissions Liaison Officer for the US Air Force Academy. He has been a USA Team Handball Athlete (1994-1999) and has competed in the following US Olympic Committee events: 1999 Pan American Games, 1996 Olympics, 1995 Pan American Games, and 1994 Goodwill Games. David received his degree in human factors engineering at the US Air Force Academy.
Mike Hesse, Blue Ox
Mike is the CEO and chairman of Blue Ox in Pender, Nebraska, a position he has held since 2016. He is also the owner of Arena Sports Academy in Sioux City, Iowa, and Caicos Dream Tours in Turks & Caicos, as well as CEO and chairman of Pender, Nebraska, companies Automatic Manufacturing, Inc. and Mad Ramps. From 1998-2016, Mike was president and director of sales for BPI Technology, Inc. Mike has served on the RVIA Board of Directors since 2018. He is also the founder of the Hesse Foundation in Sioux City, Iowa. Mike earned his degree in business administration and management from Briar Cliff University.
Elden Wood, Carefree of Colorado
Elden is president of Carefree of Colorado. Prior to assuming the role of president, Elden served as Carefree’s vice president of sales, service, and marketing. Elden came to Carefree with more than 14 years of experience in the global RV industry having previously worked with many leading European companies, most recently as Truma’s vice president of sales and marketing. He has served on the RVIA Board of Directors, the International Committee, and the Trade Show & Events Committee since 2017 and the Awards Committee since 2019. Elden is also very involved in his community where he is a firefighter/EMT-I, scout master for the Boy Scouts of America, Church Young Men’s Youth Leader, and Elkhart Chamber of Commerce Education Council volunteer. He supports various service projects on behalf of Loveway, Inc. Therapeutic Equestrian Services of Middlebury, Indiana. Elden earned a BA in Business Administration with a double major in Entrepreneurship and International Business, together with a Global Management Certificate, at BYU’s Marriott School of Business; International Business and Global Marketing certificate at CIMBA in Italy; Level B1 German Foreign Language Certificate at Goethe Institut in Germany; and a Two-Year Financial Management Accounting Certificate from LDS Business College.
