John Butz operates a booming Florida-based used CNC machinery sales operation while trading the time over the past decade to serve as a leader in the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA).

John is CEO of RESELL CNC, which buys and sells used manufacturing equipment through two divisions: a retail side that specializes in used CNC machines and an auction service that provides liquidation opportunities for surplus equipment. The MDNA has been instrumental in RESELL CNC’s expansion. “Relationships and partnerships have been key to our growth,” John says. Under his leadership, RESELL CNC has been recognized twice on the Inc. 500 List of America’s fastest-growing companies.

“We stay true to our mission by assisting manufacturers and dealers with their surplus and trade-in machines,” he continues. “Each month, we are buying and selling 50 to 100 machines through our retail division alone.” John credits much of RESELL CNC’s success to his involvement with the MDNA and its affiliated Association of Machinery and Equipment Appraisers (AMEA). He has been actively engaged with the MDNA since 2006 and now serves as a member of its board of directors.

A Madison, Wisconsin native, John entered the machine tool industry in 1992 after earning a business and marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He began his career selling new Mazak CNC machines, CNC lasers, and EDM equipment. John and a dedicated staff of 16, headquartered in Orlando, serve RESELL CNC customers across North America and around the world, using warehouses throughout the U.S. to streamline logistics.
John’s MDNA affiliation began in 2006, when he partnered with a major auction house to develop an online auction platform. In 2008, he launched RESELL CNC, and within a few years was leading the MDNA’s Southern Regional Chapter. By 2015, during a period of exceptional growth for RESELL CNC, John joined the MDNA’s national board, reinforcing his commitment to industry ethics and collaboration.
He considers the MDNA instrumental to RESELL CNC’s success. “The MDNA has enabled us to develop connections that allow us to easily work with trustworthy dealers,” he explains, “and we all operate under the same MDNA Code of Ethics.” John also has taken the time to become an accredited member of the MDNA’s sister organization, the Association of Machinery and Equipment Appraisers (AMEA). “Being with the AMEA gives us the ability to provide professional capital appraisals to our customers,” he added. “It’s an important aspect of what we do.”

John believes that, at its core, success in the equipment sales industry is built on trust, integrity, and strong relationships— all values that align with the MDNA’s mission. “Relationships are of paramount importance in this industry,” he emphasizes. “And the MDNA is a great way to build them. It has connected us with trustworthy dealers who operate under the same high ethical standards, allowing us to expand our reach and enhance our reputation.”

April 29th-30th of this year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam conflict. On that morning a young Lt.(jg) John Conroy (now a Past President of the MDNA, Presidential Appointee and Convention Committee Chairman and  co-owner of Machinery International) was Officer of the Deck on the 550 Foot long USS Vancouver {LPD 2) steaming in slow circles in a 2 mile x 2 mile quadrant off the coast of South Vietnam. Vancouver was designed to attack hostile beaches by launching Higgins boats loaded with Marines in a frontal assault on the enemy beach while simultaneously launching helicopters to attack the enemy from their rear. It's mission this day was very different. It was to rescue as many Americans and their allies as possible from the imminent fall of Saigon. This was a task Vancouver knew well, having just three weeks earlier executed Operation Eagle Pull and rescuing all American citizens and U.S. Embassy employees from Phnom Penh, Cambodia when that country fell to the Khmer Rouge and the "Killing Fields" began.

My main focus that morning was to avoid hitting the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in its quadrant to the north and the USS Hancock to the south. Enterprise was providing air support and was changing course constantly to launch and recover it's fighters. Our Captain was below and the ship was all mine. It was very peaceful.
I had the 0800-1200 Watch. About two hours into it the lookouts reported a strange cloud formation to the west. 1 stepped out on the bridge wing and looked at it through binoculars with the Junior Officer of the Deck, Ensign Griggs. As we watched it got larger and larger and was coming straight for our formation of 50 ships, virtually the entire U.S. Seventh Fleet. Radar confirmed what was now becoming obvious to us. The "cloud" was hundreds of helicopters escaping Saigon and the surrounding area. The orders had been given to "bug out". and Operation Frequent Wind was officially underway.
For the next 24 hours it was organized chaos as hundreds of helicopters circled over the fleet looking for any open flight deck before they ran out of fuel. The first to land on Vancouver was a South Vietnamese Chinook carrying about 40 refugees. The pilot refused to take off and return to Vietnam. The flight deck crew asked me for instructions. I told them to put the pilot on the radio. I told him there was a large barge adrift about a mile to the east and to land over there and I would send a boat to pick him up. He agreed and took off.
Soon we were overwhelmed with helicopters of all shapes and sizes. The orders were given to start rolling them off the side of the ship as soon as they were emptied to make room for others that were hovering waiting for any open deck. The only ones we kept were the blue and white ones. They were Air America, the CIA's Air Force, and contained the latest top-secret electronics that the Russians would have loved to fish out of the Tonkin Gulf after we had left.
Our crew of360 sailors and 800 marines were pretty much overwhelmed for the next 24 hours. Vancouver took on over 2,200 refugees that day - everything from mothers with children to South Vietnamese generals with suitcases filled with gold. (We confiscated those as per orders of the Admiral). Anyone not on watch helped out. The entire inside portion of Vancouver is a hollowed-out football field where we keep the marine's landing craft and can flood it to launch them. It became our triage center, freeing the flight deck up for the helicopters. By nightfall it looked like the railroad yard scene in "Gone with the Wind" when Sherman was entering Atlanta.
After very little sleep I came back on watch as Officer of the Deck for the 0400-0800 watch. It was dark, the ship was quiet, and 1 felt the awesome responsibility of being in charge of an 8600 Ton Ship carrying 360 sailors, 800 marines, and now 2200 refugees.
As the sun rose I looked to the east and saw, to my chagrin, a floating barge adrift with the outline of a Chinook helicopter and a very tired pilot still waving his arms. In the chaos of the morning earlier I had completely forgotten to launch a boat to pick him up. Boy was I embarrassed. I immediately ordered a boat to retrieve him, a hot meal to be ready for him, and directed that he be brought to the bridge. When he arrived I couldn't even get in an apology as he hugged me and said he was just happy to be alive.
We arrived in Subic Bay in the Philippines a few days later with our precious cargo. Fifty years ago.
-John Conroy

Much of John Bouley’s adult life has been spent in service to others: to his family, his business associates and customers, his community, his nation, and to the world.

John owns and operates Furnace Brokers International, which buys, sells, appraises, and exports industrial heat treat furnaces and ovens from its headquarters in Tolland, Conn., a Hartford suburb. He has been in the thermal processing business since 1973 and has run Furnace Brokers since 2016, when Clarence Sherman, his original business partner, retired.  They established the company as Furnace Brokers, Inc., in 1983, and remain the best of friends.

“I’m a very proud member of the MDNA and have been since January 1990,” John said in a recent interview. He has chaired the MDNA’s Northeast Chapter and remains an active member there. “I like what we stand for,” he continued. “I really appreciate its Code of Ethics and the (Austin D. Lucas) scholarship program.”

Furnace Brokers operates on a global level, buying and selling used industrial heat treating furnaces and ovens. The majority of its sales are in ovens, and it also offers some new equipment. “We can give you value and you can have it today, at a substantial reduction in price,” he said of Furnace Brokers’ appeal to customers. “We buy and sell, and we’ll refer rebuilds to a network we’ve established.”

John is a Rhode Island native who enlisted in the Marines at age 17. His four-year stint included a Vietnam combat tour as a helicopter door-gunner.  Home from the service in 1971, he enrolled in college, then a Marine buddy pointed him to a summer job in Connecticut with a used furnace dealer.

“Within a month or so, I fell in love with the business,” he said. That was the start of his association with Industronics, Inc., which is where he met Sherman. They worked together for 10 years before facing a career crossroads and deciding to go into business together, which, he said, “was the best thing I ever did.”

John and his wife Cathy live in Tolland and have three adult children and a couple of grandkids. His community involvement has included a lengthy stint as a Little League baseball coach. And for the past 25 years, John has been active through his local Roman Catholic church in relief work in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. He joined the board of the Outreach to Haiti organization and has made numerous trips to the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where Outreach is involved in food distribution, a health clinic, and education. Though he has been unable to visit Haiti since 2019 because of the nation’s crippling social unrest, he remains devoted to the cause.

“It has been my life’s mission,” he reflected. “The people of Haiti are special —hard-working and willing to work. They just want an opportunity.”

John is not about to walk away from the chance to provide that opportunity.  “I believe God brought me back from Vietnam for a reason,” he reflects. “And this is it.”

Mr. Bouley was named MDNA Person of the year at the MDNA Annual Meeting that took place at the 2025 Convention in New Orleans.  Named in honor of Former MDNA President Craig L. Ward.  Mr. Ward was dedicated to his community and beyond.  He was MDNA’s president from 2021 to 2023.  This award is presented annually, honoring a member’s commitment to benevolence and community impact, as well as their excellence in the used machinery industry.