The LFM Quarterly // Recognizing Excellence
LFM’s Portfolio Company Recognition Awards
LFM Capital, founded by engineers and former operators, always strives for excellence in both our internal processes and across our portfolio companies. This year, we introduced a portfolio-wide program to recognize standout team members within our portfolio companies across two categories: the Extra Mile Award and the Best Continuous Improvement Project. Winners received a special one-time bonus. We look forward to continuing to grow this program in years to come.
Here are this year's winners:
The Extra Mile Award
The Best Continuous Improvement Award
Featured Executive Profile
Brian Kaminski, CEO and President, Heartland Steel Products
Brian Kaminski currently serves as CEO and President of Heartland Steel Products, a manufacturer of material handling solutions used in manufacturing, distribution, and warehouse facilities. Heartland is headquartered in Marysville, MI, and has been an LFM portfolio company since late 2016.
Interestingly, Brian set off for college with the hope of becoming a school teacher, an aspiration that had always been front and center for him. Through undergrad, however, Brian’s interest in business grew and he shifted gears to start his career as a supervisor at Ford. Brian found that he was able to transfer many of his teaching skills to the shop floor and is still incredibly passionate about guiding and developing those skills and the people within his organization.
After a decade at Ford, Brian made the decision to branch out and move closer to his dream of running a company someday. While serving in Director and Vice President roles at companies including Carter Fuel Systems and Trico, and CEO at Burgaflex North America, largely still within the automotive industry, Brian cemented his foundation of leading through knowledge and reverence.
He believes in partnering his attention to metrics, data, and KPIs with establishing respect and cohesiveness within his teams – and the results speak for themselves. Brian turned around eight manufacturing companies over the next decade of his career, which saved thousands of US manufacturing jobs.
Brian came to work for Heartland after being recruited by LFM, “a very different PE firm, focused on manufacturing, whereas the other firms are more financial guys.” After his first year at Heartland, Brian’s presence has made a meaningful impact on the business. “I believe in getting to know everybody and that it’s a great way to build morale,” said Brian.
He describes his leadership approach as dynamic and flexible. By aligning urgency and passion for detail, plans come to fruition, and from this, people are motivated. “We can chop this tree down, one ax swing at a time, by being positive, direct, transparent, and setting good KPIs.” At Heartland, Brian’s team has bought in, and they are seeing tremendous success.
Brian is a father of two and coaches his son’s travel basketball team. He also enjoys working out, golfing, and traveling.
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LFM News
LFM Portfolio Company, SureKap, named Mike May as CEO Read more...
LFM closed our third fund and announced promotions Read more...
LFM sold Pratt Industries Read more...
LFM announced our new investment, IronCraft Read more...
LFM Thought Leadership in the Marketplace
LFM Operating Partner, Ken Hoefling, talked about supply chain issues on a webinar panel Watch here...
Steve Cook, LFM's Executive Managing Director, discusses manufacturing and his background on Axial's podcast Listen here...
The Lifecycle of a PE-Backed Company, an article featuring LFM and Dan Shockley, Managing Director Read here...
LFM Beats the Heat!
Alex Weinstein, Senior Associate, catches some rays while Russ Aiken, VP, and Jack Jeffrey, Associate, hang ten right here in Nashville!
This year has been one of the hottest summers ever recorded in Tennessee! We asked our team what they do to cool off on these dog days of summer, here's what they said:
ABOUT LFM CAPITAL
LFM Capital is a private equity firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. The firm’s mission is to partner with portfolio company management to develop and build world-class operations through a combination of manufacturing and operations excellence and targeted growth and expansion strategies.