INVINCIBLE BOAT COMPANY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Brand & Dealer Sales
Boating is in his blood. Since joining Invincible in August 2019, he has been tasked with overseeing the marketing efforts, dealer support and product development. Dorton played a key role in launching the company's "When You're Serious" brand campaign, the rollouts of the 46' and 33' Catamarans, and with expanding Invincible's dealer network nationwide.
Previously with Brunswick Corporation, Dorton served in multiple roles in marketing, product development, engineering and business development. In 2017, he was named to Boating Industry's list of 40 Under 40 industry leaders. The move to Brunswick came after the acquisition of HeyDay Boats, a builder Dorton co-founded in 2015 and served as president.
He cut his teeth in marine manufacturing, where he was involved even in his childhood. Dorton was a stagehand for the unveiling of several major product launches and interned each summer from 2007-2012. His first job after college (and winning a national championship in wakeboarding) was in process engineering under the tutelage of Scott Wood, Invincible's current Senior VP of Engineering. Similarly to Scott, Ben has introduced more than 20 new boat models so far in his career.
An avid outdoorsman, Dorton is a member of The Wildlife Society and is involved in their fisheries preservation effort. A father of two, Dorton has taken to the local fishing scene since moving to South Florida entering sailfish tournaments and diving for lobster.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Sales
- SALES
The public face of Invincible for the past decade, Bill Cordes likes to win, period. A former competitive water skier and lifetime member of the Greater Miami Ski Club, Cordes came into fishing when he wasn't hitting the slalom course. He was hooked while fishing on a 30-foot Intrepid in the late 80's. 20 years later and Cordes had multiple billfish championships to his name as both an angler and top captain. He famously captained Contender's competition boat "Contender 1," to victories across South Florida and the Caribbean.
Cordes joined Invincible in 2010 after leading sales at Contender. Still in its infancy, Invincible saw tremendous growth upon Cordes's arrival. His first branding campaign with the company: "One Ride" is the basis of the Invincible difference. With superior design, research and fit and finish, one ride is all it takes to differentiate Invincible from competitors. A father of four, Cordes and his family can be found diving for lobsters in The Bahamas or catching sailfish when school is out.
A dual-degree engineer with a passion for fishing, boats, and the outdoors, Dan Freer has over 18 years of product development and manufacturing experience. Dan started his boat building career in his late teens when he built his first poling skiff using fiberglass, epoxy, and a pile of marine plywood. Since then, he earned a business and mechanical engineering degree from Texas A&M University, and he has held many high-level positions at innovative businesses such as Brunswick Corporation, Exosent Engineering, and Nyati Automation.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Business Transformation
With more than a decade of experience in leading manufacturing facilities, leading both strategic and tactical roles in manufacturing engineering, production, materials and logistics. Emilio graduated as Industrial Engineer from ITESM CEM following an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and most recently from LEAD at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Having a strong industrial background and experience in multiple fast-paced and specialized environments such as automotive and aerospace, Emilio has held key leadership positions throughout his career including as chief of staff and plant manager in the U.S. and Mexico. Part of that experience involved testing the products themselves, with his first time out fishing with Invincible being reminiscent of training colleagues to pilot PWC's.
Emilio is a passionate and active ultimate frisbee player who has qualified for the world championships twice so far. When not working, you can find him happily throwing the disc or mahi fishing with the team.
Job Titles:
- Director of Customer Experience
- Service
Job Titles:
- INTERNATIONAL SALES
- Vice President of INTERNATIONAL Business
Birdsall first started working in boat factories at 21 years old: laminating, rigging, mold making and transporting boats across Europe. He started major brands international business from the ground up, to include dealerships in more than 30 countries. That came with also building and managing a team responsible for sales, marketing, customer/dealer/service support and parts distribution. He also oversaw building an independent UK factory which built boats for a period of 10 years.
Birdsall founded the European Wakeboard Tour, the only fully independent cash prize International series for the sport. He worked alongside the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation for more than 30 years supporting and running waterski and wakeboard events worldwide. For his efforts, Birdsall was awarded the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation's "Order of Merit" in 2013.
Between 2013-2016, Birdsall developed the international sales and marketing strategy for Numarine, a Turkish manufacturer of exclusive motor yachts. When Birdsall is not on a boat logging miles off the Atlantic coast of Europe or in the Mediterranean, he can be found on a motorcycle on the Isle of Man.
Jeff Needles handles all financial and administration activities of the company, including financial reporting, treasury, tax, legal, audit, IT, banking and insurance.
Jeff has extensive powersports and marine experience. His career began at Harley-Davidson Motor Company's (NYSE: HOG) Vehicle and Powertrain Operations in Kansas City, Missouri and Harley's corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2004. From 2009 to 2013, Jeff was Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at MasterCraft Boat Company (NASDAQ: MCFT) where he oversaw the acquisition and financial integration of Hydra-Sports Boats (now called HCB Yachts) from Genmar.
Prior to joining Invincible in 2020, Needles served as CFO of United Enertech, a private equity owned company, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From 2013 to 2017, Jeff was the CFO at Schnellecke Logistics USA, a German based automotive 3PL that provides sequencing, module & welding assemblies, transport, supply, warehousing and packaging logistics. While at Schnellecke, Jeff oversaw their U.S.-based operations for both Mercedes in Vance, Alabama and Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
John Dorton's expertise and experience in building brands has earned him the reputation as one of the top executives in the boating industry. As CEO of Warbird Marine Holdings, he oversees the two leading premium, performance fishing boat brands; bringing segment-leading build quality, customer experience, investment capital and business professionalism.
Dorton was named CEO of Invincible Boat Company in July 2019 upon its purchase by EagleTree Capital. No stranger to boating operations both large and small, Dorton was previously CEO and co-founder of HeyDay Boats.
Under his leadership as CEO of MasterCraft Boats from 1999-2012, the company became the dominant brand in waterski and wakeboard boats. Dorton's vision to embrace athlete sponsorships in the action sports era made MasterCraft a household name with anyone tuning into the X Games, including aspiring wakeboarders. Evolving with the progression of the sport, Dorton played a pivotal role in launching the brand's famous "X-Star" model in 1996.
Dorton has also served on multiple Boards of Directors for Icon Aircraft, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) vice chairman of the Boat Manufacturer Division (BMD) and as director for both the Water Sports Industry Association and World Wakeboard Association. Away from the factory, Dorton is a renaissance outdoorsman who can be found either on horseback, fishing for bass, or chasing sailfish offshore.
With a passion for building boats and ever-expanding his industry knowledge, Jonathan Lipworth is an integral part of the Invincible team. As our Chief of Staff, his roles are wide-ranging, from facilitating executive staff governance to order management and pricing lead, a department he built. Jonathan also built and leads Invincible's IT department, while assisting in devising company strategy and advising C-level.
Before his current role, Jonathan served as Invincible's VP of Operations from 2017 to 2020, expanding the company from 70 units per year to 120 units per year, while growing the company from roughly 145 employees to 250. He is also the co-creator of our quality control and sea trial procedures, and performed all boat setup until he transitioned into his current role in 2020. Prior to Warbird's acquisition of Invincible, Jonathan was a one-man army and continues to demonstrate his comprehensive knowledge and expertise day in and day out.
When he's not at work, Jonathan enjoys socializing with friends on and off the water, reading books and learning new topics, and building computers and servers. He even maintains his own home server! Needless to say, he is an asset at Invincible and will continue to drive our brand into a successful future.
Job Titles:
- Administrator, International Business
Job Titles:
- Export Sales Specialist
- International Factory Direct Sales
Oliver is a waterman through and through. At Invincible he works alongside Ian Birdsall to grow the brand's International presence, dealing directly with customers and prospective dealers in developing markets.
Huntsman joined Invincible in November 2020 and brings 20 years of experience in the European watersports scene. An event commentator for the Wakeboard World Cup among other events, he traveled to competitions in Paris, Cannes and South Africa. He also headed Quays Wake & Ski, a watersports facility that was the training home for multiple junior and European tour champions.
A native of Jersey, Huntsman now resides in North Cornwall with his partner and their two children. The conditions there allow him to be in the water year-round. When he's not surfing with the kids, Huntsman is learning how to kite surf and foil, or spearfishing for sea bass.
Job Titles:
- Factory Direct Sales Specialist
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Operations
As Vice President of Operations, Sven Meyer-Noack oversees Invincible's day-to-day, including production, quality and supply chain. His focus is driving growth by building efficient teams, implementing efficient production methods and ensuring a product continues to set the industry standard.
Sven graduated from the RWTH-Aachen University in Germany and holds a PhD in composites. He is driven by innovation and brings a proven leadership record in production to Invincible, with key experience in development for aviation defense and marine industries. He is a seasoned executive leader, a prolific inventor, and an author of influential scholarly literature, maintaining a sustained track record of extraordinary contributions to the land, air, and marine vehicle sectors in Europe and globally for more than two decades.
Sven is a passionate outdoorsman who has an affinity for boating and being on the water. He has been an avid enthusiast of sailing and motor vessels, holding licenses for each, since he was 17 years old. In addition to the many skills he brings to Invincible, Sven is also an excellent musician who enjoys playing the piano and church organ.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- President
As Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Wieners is responsible for Warbird's global operations and the implementation and execution of its tactical and strategic plan to drive profitable revenue growth. He has close to 20 years of leadership and manufacturing expertise across various industries.
Throughout his career, Thomas has built and transformed organizations, creating long-term value by focusing on operational excellence. His knowledge, along with his inclusive approach to leading and building high performance teams enables him to take our brands to the next level. In 2020, Thomas joined Invincible Boats as COO to lead the company's operations and initiate its global manufacturing strategy.
Prior to joining Invincible Boats, Thomas spent five years as President and COO at ICON Aircraft, taking the ICON A5 (a recreational light-sport aircraft) from vision and prototype into serial manufacturing. Before that, he worked eight years for BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products) setting up and overseeing a new manufacturing facility for Sea Doo watercraft and Rotax engines in Queretaro, Mexico.
As a native of Germany, Thomas started his professional career in the automotive industry. He held different manufacturing and leadership roles while working for Mercedes-Benz for five years.
Thomas shares his passion for sports and the outdoors with his wife and three daughters. Boating and fishing have risen to the top of the activity list for the Wieners family.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Global Supply Chain
Verónica has a background of a leader specialized in creating value through the development of organizations, systems and culture. Throughout her 20 years of professional experience, she has led high-performance and multidisciplinary teams internationally within manufacturing environments across industries, including green field and start up projects in aerospace and powersports. She graduated from International Business and holds an MBA from La Trobe University in Australia and Laurentian University in Canada.
At Invincible, she leads Global Supply Chain and has been tasked with applying modern efficiencies and best practices to the marine industry.
Verónica appreciates the simple joys in life. She is passionate about experiencing new cultures, staying active and devoting time to family and friends. Being a foodie and dog lover, she is enjoying embarking on the exciting world of boating and fishing.