Men in Business

Jax, Kokomo Jackrabbits

“My favorite thing about being the lead cheerleader for this team is sharing the excitement and enthusiasm that I have for Jackrabbits baseball with everybody who is here. I think of Bobby, Kokomo’s BobKats basketball mascot, more as a sibling than a friend. Like all siblings, at the heart of everything we have love for each other, but sometimes we might not see eye to eye. We’ll always be competitive, but when it’s all said and done, we’re family. We’ve both got busy schedules, but from time to time we’ll show up at each other’s place and cheer for each other. We’ll rib each other a bit, too. We definitely have a competitive spirit between the two of us. This is sports, after all!”

Bobby, Kokomo Bobkats

I love getting the crowd fired up at the games. I love to see the smiles on kids’ faces, and seeing how much their parents enjoy getting their pictures taken with me and their kids. I enjoy representing a wonderful a wonderful organization. People are always happy and in a good mood when they see me. Their faces light up! Jax is wonderful for the baseball crowd! If it ever works out, I would love to race him on his team’s outfield. I thin the fans and kids would love that.

Mark Jansen, Jansen Asphalt and Jansen Tax Service

I’ve learned from the best when it comes to running two businesses. Both the businesses I own were started by my father, Tony. His nickname is ‘T. Love’. He stays busy. I’m one of five of his kids and he’s always helping me or one of my siblings. He’s just great. We handle tax returns from January until mid-April and the asphalt work from the first of May until the end of October. We’ve been serving Kokomo and the surrounding area for 51 years. I love the Kokomo community and love working for people I’ve known for a long time!

Les Felton Jr., Motorwise of Kokomo

Motorwise is a family business fully owned and operated by military veterans. I served in the Army and Navy from 1983 to 1993. I love hearing people tell us they enjoy going to a business operated by military veterans all we had to do is get a pay stub generator so we can handle of payrolls and the business will do great. That means a lot to me. We’ve had the same loyal customers since we opened. We meet a very diverse group of people who have become like friends to us. We have the best people who work for us. Having great employees just really makes a big difference. We also have the best coffee! Our customers and staff just love our coffee!

Dirk Webster, Senior Loan Officer, Ruoff Mortgage

I’ve been here since October, 2019, and I love the team I’m on. The late Amy Romero, branch manager and vice president, did an outstanding job of building a great business, and I’m proud to be part of it. The great community here rallied around our office after she died. We are the number one purchase lender in the United States. The big difference is our attention to detail and communication. We also have a lot of cool technology that helps us work with clients and quick turn-around times. We really work with people to help them get the homes they want.

Ray Bass, Custom Built Barns

If you treat people right, they will take care of you as well. My son, Johnny, builds the barns on location, and does repair and releveling work. My sister, Renee McGinnis, does the sales and scheduling. I do a lot of delivering and hauling as well as overseeing the business. We’ve been in business since 1975 and what I like most is taking care of our customers and making them happy. We get along with people because we are very truthful with them. We just try to do things on time and be honest with everyone.

Mitchell Rigsby, Closing Manager and Associate Broker, The Hardie Group

This is a family run business and I work with my wonderful in-laws. We get along great and it’s nice to work at a place that has been around for so long. People really know and trust us here and that helps tremendously. I really like helping people list and sell their homes. It’s a really good feeling to help first time homebuyers. I enjoy this business. There is never a dull moment. Things are always changing, and you have to adapt with the environment.

Jonathon Malin, Commercial Lender and Vice President, Community First Bank

Building solid relationships with clients has made a huge difference. We have great technology, but it still means a lot to meet people face to face. I have enjoyed seeing customers grow their businesses. We have exceptional banking products and outstanding customer service. We really put an emphasis on knowing our customers. We help people achieve their dreams and we also do a lot to encourage local non-profits. The people here really now how to better serve their community, and we are so proud to be a part of that.

Bill Cone, Cone and Daughters Landscaping

We have been a professional lawn care, landscaping and snow removal company since 1998, and we love the way our customers’ yards looks when the jobs are finished. We put a lot of care into our work. We take pride in the way the product turns out. We make sure the job is the our customer’s satisfaction every time.

Bud DeCleene, DeCleene Optometry

My wife, Kate, and I opened our business in February, 1994, with the goal of being able to juggle work and home life. We met our goal. We were really thinking about the future, and what we wanted it to look like. We wanted control over both our work and family. We have four kids, and didn’t want our business and lives to have a corporate feeling. We wanted to have a family-owned business. We’ve had a lot of generations of family members who have been our patients for a very long time. We have wonderful patients. We have grown our practice with the goal of providing life-long eye care for the good people of the Kokomo area.

Brett Ellison, McCool’s Flooring

I have worked at McCool’s for 27 years as of May 2021. My past work experience was in department store management. Our first son was born in 1994 and the hours of working are much better. No nights or Sundays. Also, it is nice to work for a family-owned business. My family had owned a Farm Machinery retail business when I was growing up so it was kind of like returning to my roots. We offer premium flooring products at a great value for the residential replacement segment of the retail market while living our values of Faith, Family, Flooring.

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