Alexandria, Va. – The Detroit/Toledo Chapter of the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA) has elected a new chairman, Hamilton Cauffiel, for the 2023-2024 leadership cycle. As chair, Cauffiel will work to advance collaboration among chapter members and lead advocacy efforts for the industry.
 
Joining Cauffiel in the chapter’s leadership are the following:

• Vice Chair: Chase Thornton, Presses for Industry
• Secretary: Parker Patrona, UPM
• Treasurer: Mike Neil, F.P. Miller Company
• MDNA National Board Representative: Nick Gibbs, Gibbs Machinery

 
“Serving in MDNA chapter leadership is honor and a privilege,” said Mark Robinson, Executive Vice President, MDNA. “In electing Cauffiel as chair, chapter members have acknowledged he has what it takes to effectively lead his fellow members. It is a privilege to represent fellow chapter members at the national level as well.”
 
Cauffiel currently works as the Vice President of Business Development at Galaxie Corporation, a worldwide machinery dealer specializing in coil processing, rolling mills and tube, pipe and metal forming equipment. A longtime MDNA member, the company was one of the first used steel machinery firms in the U.S. to venture into the worldwide market, linking nearly all fifty states with more than three dozen countries on six continents.
 
Throughout his career, Cauffiel has managed equipment sales in multiple countries, including the recent sale of a large seamless pipe plant to Mexico. Cauffiel has coordinated all stages of the process, from inspecting equipment, managing shipments and customs requirements, and even assisting in the installation at the new location.
 
In his role as Chapter Chair, Cauffiel plans to focus on creating learning opportunities in addition to all the networking that takes place at chapter meetings. “I want people to leave each meeting with something that can help them in their day-to-day business,” he said.
 
“My family has been involved in the machinery business for three generations,” he continued, “and I was able to start learning that market from a very young age. My father took me on an inspection of a manufacturing plant when I was little. After college and working with a large corporation, I decided to return to my roots at Galaxie.”
 
According to Cauffiel, the biggest benefit of MDNA membership is the chance to build true friendships with people in the industry. “It’s about forming connections which lead to shared knowledge and expertise, as well as opportunities to invest in equipment with fellow members,” he said.
 
When he’s not making deals across the globe, Cauffiel enjoys golfing, working out, and spending time with his fiancé.
 
About MDNA: Recognizing the importance and growth of the used metalworking machinery and used capital equipment industry, the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA) has established itself for the purpose of furthering the lawful interests of the industry, promoting higher business standards and ethics, and conducting activities in a manner to improve the objectives of the industry. To learn more about the MDNA, please contact [email protected].

Welcome to “The Women of MDNA,” a series of posts where you’ll meet some of the remarkable women in our industry. Women have been trailblazers in the industry, promoting more than just machines. Consider Kristine Conroy, who has made an enormous impact through the Austin D. Lucas Scholarship Fund and the MDNA Convention.
 
How did you get involved in the industry?
My father, John McMillan, was a machinery dealer, so I grew up in the industry. In fact, he got his start through Austin Lucas, for whom MDNA’s scholarship fund is named. While I was in college, I wanted to be a dealer, but at that time there were very few women in the industry, so my father and Austin encouraged me to choose another career.
 
I chose education and received my master’s degree as a reading specialist. Then I raised our sons, Adam and Austin. After many years of volunteering, I took a job in 1993 at Yale University, reading and evaluating applications. At the same time, the Austin D. Lucas Scholarship Fund (ADLSF) applications were increasing. Austin approached me to become a trustee and help revise the application itself and the method for students to apply.
 
It was a wonderful opportunity to be involved in MDNA and offer my knowledge. I felt as if I had come full circle! In 2001, I became president of the fund. I was the first non-dealer to be a trustee and president of the Austin D. Lucas Scholarship Fund.
 
The scholarship is my passion. It’s wonderful how it has evolved over the last 40 years. I am so grateful for the support of the MDNA members that have made the ADLSF so successful. I really feel that the scholarship fund is the best thing MDNA does. It changes students’ lives and is a real benefit to owners to give to employees.
 
How else have you been involved in MDNA? 
I’ve served on the convention committee for 20 years. My husband, John, is the chairman.  John supervises the convention team, and I do the party planning and handle a lot of the details, working closely with Mark Robinson. It’s been a joy. We are in sync for our goals for what we want members to achieve. I want members to have fun but also to network and to know the MDNA family the way I know it.
 
What is the benefit of being involved in MDNA?
I grew up with parents going to conventions. It’s been a part of my whole life. The industry goes far beyond buying and selling machinery. If you are involved in MDNA, you’re family. My closest friends are MDNA members. We fly across the country to visit with each other and share in family celebrations.
 
How has the industry changed over the years? 
I’ve known generations of machinery dealers: my father’s generation, my generation, the next generation. Years ago, my father traveled to look at machines. Over the years, even my husband traveled a lot. Today, thanks to the Internet, dealers tend to travel less. In that way, the younger generation has helped bring the industry forward through technology. I really like seeing the younger generation sharing ideas with the older generation, and the older generation giving ideas and history. It's a nice blend and beneficial in many ways.
 
What do you like best about the industry? 
The more you give to the association, the more you get back and the closer you get. This is an amazing group of very special people. I always wanted to be in the industry, and now things have come full circle. I love what I do and especially love the people I have met through MDNA.

A cancer diagnosis is some of the most devastating news a person can receive. Battling the disease is a personal fight, but nobody does it alone. Strength provided by family and faith    undergirds the medical care. Friends have a role, too — especially friends who have been down the same difficult road. 
 
Dan Wheeler and Terry Yoder know where that road can lead — and who those friends are. 
 
Both men are leaders in the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA). Wheeler is the organization’s first vice-president and Yoder is a board director-at-large and the Detroit-Toledo area Chapter Representative.  Their long-time personal and professional relationship took on a new dimension after Wheeler learned in November of 2018 that he had developed testicular cancer. Yoder was among many MDNA colleagues who soon learned of the situation and responded with gestures of help and support for Wheeler, his wife Gina, and their three children. 
 
“Terry’s one of my best friends,” Wheeler says. “And we were friends long before cancer.”
 
Then, in September of 2021, Yoder learned that he had prostate cancer.  Wheeler was among many from the MDNA who offered him immediate encouragement. And Yoder soon realized that Wheeler is one of several key MDNA officials who also happen to be cancer survivors. They rallied to his side as he began his chemotherapy regimen. He describes the bond they share as “kind of like the Marines’ slogan — ‘the few, the proud’” —and laughs as he recalls the many late-night text sessions among members of the group, when humorous and poignant observations on life and health are exchanged.  

Wheeler has been an MDNA member since 1997.  Soon after he joined the family business, Wheeler Machinery Sales, Inc., in Pomona, Calif., he realized the association was a great way to broaden his contacts in the used-machinery world.  That involvement took on an entirely different significance when cancer entered his life.
 
Following a rough chemotherapy regimen in early 2019, Wheeler was not certain he could attend the MDNA national convention in May of that year.  But he made the drive to the gathering in Palm Springs from his home in east suburban Los Angeles because he was being considered for elevation to the organization’s leadership ranks. Wheeler felt he wasn’t yet up to the demands of the job, and he wanted the board to know he might not be equal to the task right away.
 
“I was fighting gravity at that time,” is how the former collegiate athlete describes the difficulty he had even getting out of bed in the morning. “But I knew I had to get to the convention to let the officers know what things were like.”
 
The board’s reaction was, he said, “one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard.”
 
“‘Dan, we’ll wait a year for you,’ they told me. ’We want you to be our treasurer.’”
 
The wait was well worth it, for all concerned. Wheeler has risen through the officer ranks and is scheduled to be president of the MDNA board in 2025.
 
Yoder owns Yoder Machinery, established by his parents in 1957 in Holland, Ohio, and sustained by three generations of Yoder siblings, cousins, and now his son, Cody. His wife Erika and other family members have been his primary support from his diagnosis, through chemotherapy, and continuing follow-up treatments. 
 
“I was blessed,” he reflects, looking back at how far he has progressed in the past year-and-a-half.  Without Erika, he says, “I don’t know what I would have done.” And the strength he found at home was bolstered by the support from what he calls his “second family” of MDNA colleagues.
 
“It’s never supposed to happen to you,” he says of the disease that has changed his life. “It came as quite a shock. But you learn to deal with things and I’ve had so much support from my friends in the MDNA. We laugh together, and we cry together. It’s unbelievable. Just unbelievable.”
 
The MDNA was established as a trade organization, but it is an organization of people. They come from different backgrounds and circumstances, each bringing special qualities and talents to the group’s purpose.  Dan Wheeler and Terry Yoder have found, in MDNA people, comfort for the spirit and soul — and a unique camaraderie survivors share.