RUTHMAN PUMP & ENGINEERING - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Information Technology Director
Charles joined Ruthman Companies in 2018 to spearhead a group-wide ERP system upgrade. He's uniquely qualified with the role as most recently, he was a Senior Programmer Analyst & EDI Specialist for Acumen Consulting Inc, where one of his key accounts was Gusher Pumps, supporting their legacy ERP system. He earned a BS in Computer Science from Eastern Kentucky University with minors in Mathematics, Mathematical Science, and Computer Information Systems.
Job Titles:
- General Manager / Ruthmann Pumpen, LLC
Christoph has been with Ruthmann Pumpen since its inception in 2004. He started in engineering, working his way into production and sales, and taking over as General Manager in 2007. He has been instrumental in the continued growth of the German division, bringing our pump technology to new markets. Most recently, Christoph has overseen a significant facilities upgrade which increases our European manufacturing capabilities.
Dan began his Ruthman Companies career thirty years ago, joining Great Lakes Pump as a Sales Engineer, progressing to GM/Sales Manager before stepping up in 2014 to lead the newly formed Ruthman National Sales Team.
Prior to Great Lakes, he developed his territory sales instincts selling Hydraulic tools as a Regional Manager for Stanley Hydraulic Tools, a Regional Manager selling high pressure pumps for Giant Products and later machine tool coolant. In addition to numerous pump and industrial manufacturer certifications, Dan studied Chemical Engineering at The Ohio State University and The University of Toledo.
The opportunity to meet so many great people and solve so many challenging process problems have been the best parts of Dan's career. He thinks of Great Lakes and Ruthman Companies as family and cherishes the long-standing allegiance and cooperation between the staff. He considers himself extremely fortunate to have been mentored by well-known pump industry leaders at Great Lakes and Gusher Pumps.
Job Titles:
- General Manager / Fulflo Specialties Co. Corporate Operating Manager
David began his Ruthman Companies career at Gusher Pumps, holding roles in engineering and sales-both inside and outside. In 1989 he transferred to Fulflo Specialties in sales and engineering for its line of hydraulic bypass relief valves. Now in his 30th year with the company, David was promoted to General Manager in 1994. He was also appointed to Corporate Operations Manager of BSM Pump in 2017. Prior to joining Ruthman Companies, David worked in engineering at Allis Chalmers Pump Division. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cincinnati State Technical College.
What David enjoys most about his role at Fulflo is delivering customer satisfaction-one valve application after the next.
Job Titles:
- General Manager / BSM Pump Corporation
George joined BSM in 2014 and has gained hands on experience across the entire manufacturing process-including inventory, assembly, machining, and quality control. Before being appointed General Manager in 2023, he held the title of Shop Supervisor and was integral in managing the company's 2022 move to new facilities.
Prior to BSM, he accrued two decades of experience in heavy manufacturing with companies such as Amtrol Inc, APC Corporation, AMGEN, Stanley Bostitch, and Hasbro. His educational background includes computer coding, and computers and electronics engineering.
Job Titles:
- Regional Sales Manager / Western US
Jim started his Ruthman Companies career over 30 years ago at Gusher Pumps. After a brief stint in shipping, he moved over to assembly, learning all there was to know about pumps. From there, he put his mechanical skills to work in Field Service. Concurrent with his field service duties, Jim also spent a decade running the Dry Ridge, KY test tank, conducting performance research for new product development and troubleshooting for repairs. In 2017, Jim moved over to Ruthman Companies to head up the newly formed Pumps and Service division.
Prior to Gusher, Jim worked as a diesel mechanic, which he studied at Campbell County Area Technology Center. What Jim enjoys most about working in field service is the challenge of solving problems to get processes working again, and educating end users about pump engineering.
Laura has been with Wagner Process Equipment for over twenty years. She started as an Inside Sales Technician, and her knack for service and knowledge of the company's pump and process equipment lines soon saw her moving into outside sales. Over the years, she progressed into business development and sales management before taking over the role of General Manager in early 2020.
In addition to her years of pump and process industry training certifications and experience, Laura holds degrees in Computer Science (Santa Rosa Junior College) and Business/E-commerce (University of Phoenix).
Laura thoroughly enjoys helping her customers solve their pumping problems. She finds it rewarding to use the knowledge she's gained of various technologies over the years to solve complicated problems, and help her customers to troubleshoot and streamline their systems.
Len brings decades of operations, R&D and engineering experience to his new role at Nagle. Prior to joining our heavy-duty pump manufacturer in 2022, he built his career in the oilfield, vehicle manufacturing and automotive assembly industries. Len holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Young Harris College (Young Harris, GA).
At Nagle, he spearheaded the move of its manufacturing operations from the original West Chicago, Il location to Dry Ridge, Ky. The move to better-equipped facilities also puts Nagle in close proximity to sister Ruthman company Gusher Pumps to more efficiently share manufacturing resources. With this move, Nagle is poised to continue its growth, particularly in the area of manufacturing pumps for molten salt applications, driven by the rise in alternative energy development.
Lisa joined Ruthman Companies in 2018 to consolidate marketing activities for all of Ruthman's brands. She has a strong background in industrial and technical products, creating written content for industry trade journals, photographing products in the studio and the field, producing video, and managing social media. Lisa earned both an MA in Organizational Communication and a BA in Public Relations and French from Illinois State University.
As a newbie to the pumps industry, Lisa is enjoying learning about all the applications for pumps that are all around us every day-from the pumps on the system that painted her car, to the large volume pumps moving millions of gallons of water through her local water treatment plant.
Mike began his career at Process Systems, Inc., before it became part of Ruthman Companies. He started out cleaning parts and machinery, but moved swiftly on to pump inspection and repair, and then on to assembly. He continued working his way up in the company to Shop Foreman and eventually became Plant Manager, before his interest turned to sales. After training on inside sales, Mike put his extensive technical knowledge to use on the road as an Outside Sales Engineer and then Sales Manager. In 2000, Mike left Process Systems to apply his vertical turbine and centrifugal pump experience at Great Lakes Pump & Supply as an Outside Salesman. Once again, Mike's hard work and perseverance led him to progress up the ranks to General Manager, overseeing sales and operations.
Mike now has 40 years of experience serving industry with pumps. Mike deeply values the work ethic that he learned from Bob Strohs, founder and long-time owner at Process Systems. Over the years, this persistence and willingness to go above and beyond have been what has allowed him to win and keep many major industrial accounts.
Job Titles:
- General Manager / Process Systems Inc.
Scott got his start in the pump industry in 1989 at Process Systems, Inc. What began as a part-time job became a career as he went full-time, taking on roles across the company, including labor, assembly, inventory, quality control, purchasing and shop management. After 13 years with PSI, he branched out into sales at other pump manufacturers. In 2011, he brought all his pump expertise back to the Ruthman Companies, joining pump and process equipment distributor Great Lakes Pump & Supply.
Most recently, he was Great Lakes' Service Manager for field service, performing troubleshooting, repairs, and pump station facility set up and training for a range of fluid handling products, including vertical turbine pumps from PSI and its Deming brand. In 2023, he returned to lead PSI as General Manager. Scott's hands-on experience and pump expertise make him uniquely qualified to execute the company's business plan.
Scott enjoys using his experience to help customers and colleagues to work through fluid handling challenges. Even after three decades, he's regularly suprised by both how suprisingly fickle and amazingly durable pumps can be. A prime example of this was a field service inspection on a split case pump with perplexing lack of symptoms. It wasn't vibrating, leaking, or hot. Suction was fine. It just wasn't producing. After removing the casing, he found the bronze impeller nearly all eaten away from heavy RO introduction, yet the rotating element was still pumping almost half the gallons per minute.
Tom is the third generation to run Ruthman Companies. He grew up immersed in pump manufacturing, like his father before him, learning the business from the ground up.
As a young man, Tom worked at several US Ruthman divisions in a variety of roles. He then spent six years working his way up to General Manager of Ruthman's German division, PFE, Germany. During his time as GM, he successfully restructured the company into what is now Ruthmann Pumpen.
As President of Ruthman Companies, Tom is continuing his father's legacy through growth into Asia as well as Europe and North America. His leadership ensures that the Ruthman name maintains its global reputation for innovation, customer service and reliability.
Job Titles:
- President / Owner ( B.1933 - D.2022 )
In 1949, Thomas R. Ruthman joined the business founded by his father, Alois Ruthman, wanting to carry on his father's tradition of quality, reliability, and innovation. His dedication to creating a worldwide presence brought Ruthman Companies to Europe in the 1980's, while continuing to expand across the U.S.
Under his leadership, the Ruthman product line evolved from the original centrifugal coolant pumps to include larger process pumps, molten metal pumps, heavy duty slurry pumps, solids handing pumps, large capacity irrigation pumps, positive displacement pumps, valves and other specialty equipment.
In his later years, Mr. Ruthman stepped back from the day-to-day running of the company to spend time with his beloved wife Audrey, three children, and 11 grandchildren. However, he remained on the board of Ruthman Companies and was still a near-daily presence at the corporate headquarters until his death in November of 2022.
Tim has spent his entire career with Gusher, and now has 30 years of pump manufacturing experience under his belt. With a strong work ethic and willingness to learn, he spent just a few weeks sweeping floors before moving on to assembly, then to running the hand lathe. His relationship building skills and leadership qualities saw him progressing through increasingly senior roles. After 10 years as Production Manager at Gusher's Dry Ridge plant, Tim was promoted to General Manager, overseeing Gusher's US operations. Most recently, Tim took on additional responsibility as Corporate Operating Manager of Nagle Pumps.
The thing that keeps Tim energized after three decades in the industry is that every day brings new challenges to overcome.
Zhang has been with Ruthman Companies for nearly 5 years as General Manager of Gusher Shanghai in China. In addition to operational oversight of import/export, sales, and finance, his strong work ethic sees Zhang pitching in to do whatever is needed from shipping to pump repair. He's also been instrumental in helping other Ruthman Companies divisions do business in China.
Prior to joining Gusher, Zhang worked at Sinopec, China's largest gas company. He earned a business degree from the prestigious Shanghai University of Finance and Economy. Zhang credits Gusher's Darrell Jenkins with teaching him everything there is to know about pumps.
One of Zhang's most memorable Gusher jobs was driving 5 hours through the night to deliver the parts needed for an emergency pump repair at a Siemens refrigerator factory.