MBH Team


Ricardo Ruelos

Mr. Ruelos has extensive international and domestic experience of over thirty years in the boat and marine recreational products business. Mr. Ruelos founded and managed Madison Bay Marine Development (“MBMD”) from 1978 to the present. MBMD provided sales and marketing services, general business and management consulting, financial services, merger and acquisition consultation, and assisted in the funding and capital procurement for boat and other recreational product companies. Mr. Ruelos has experience working with the industries’ premier financing entities such as Transamerica Finance, GE Finance, Bombardier Capital, Newcourt Credit Group, Nations Credit, and Greentree Finance. Mr. Ruelos has provided training services for sales clinics, dealer development and ongoing support in the development and execution of franchised dealer agreements and marketing programs.

Roger Palmer, President

Mr. Palmer has over twenty-five years experience in operations and manufacturing and is a leading expert in Aerospace Manufacturing Processes such as Honeycomb Aluminum, Vacuum Infusion, RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) Fiberglass Processes, Compression Molded Fiberglass, and Injection Molded Fiberglass. Companies as such as K2 Skis, KUJI Sports, Kidder International, HO Sports, Stoddard International, Beverly Pacific, C-dory Marine, Inc., La Marr Motor Homes, and Trail Wagons have employed Mr. Palmer. Mr. Palmer was a superintendent for BP Petroleum and has other experience working with global international companies such as, INFABCO Oil and Fabrication, and PEMEX, Mexico.

Tom Nestell, Advisory Board Member

Mr. Nestell has spent more than twenty years in the boat and recreation vehicle industry. As co-owner and founder of Marathon Coach, the largest converter of custom recreational vehicles in the industry, Mr. Nestell managed operations, production, engineering, marketing, and service. Mr. Nestell supervised the development of the production process as well as developing a state-of-the-art engineering system to create the most innovative RV products in the world. Mr. Nestell also created and expanded growing international markets in the Mid-East, Indonesia, and Europe that led to company growth of over $40,000,000 in sales. Mr. Nestell’s leadership took the company from start-up to worldwide success in this industry. Mr. Nestell designed and implemented a state-of-the-art, 135,000 square-foot custom manufacturing facility located in Coburg, Oregon that Marathon Coach still utilizes. The design and construction took several years and was built $600,000 under budget. Mr. Nestell started his career in the Marine Industry as a sales manager for Staff Jennings, one of the largest Bayliner Dealers. Most recently, Mr. Nestell served as a consultant for Tollycraft Yachts. In his capacity with this company he oversaw the entire interior design and production process.

These experiences will serve MBH well in achieving its goal of producing the finest recreational vehicles available.

John Keim, Advisory Board Member

Mr. Keim maintains over thirty years of extensive sales and marketing experience in the marine industry. Mr. Keim was instrumental in market growth for Sea Ray Boats Inc. (Now a Brunswick company) as the VP of Sales and Marketing. During Mr. Keim’s 12 year tenure, sales growth increased from $13M to $275M, establishing Sea Ray as the leading manufacturer of upscale pleasure boats and yachts in the world. Mr. Keim’s success continued as founder and GM of his own award winning Four Winns retail boat dealership, Surfside Marine in Arizona. Mr Keim then served over 5 years as President and VP of Sales for Chris Craft Boats in Sarasota, Florida. Keim’s contributions to Chris Craft included developing a New Dealer network, reforming the corporate culture, and developing a new product branding strategy.

In 1995, Mr. Keim took his success to Italy as Sales Director for the USA division of Azimut Yachts. At Azimut, Keim developed a new retail dealer network, increased OEM sales from $10M to $45M, bringing Azimut from obscurity to an industry Leader in less than 4 years. Mr. Keim then served for 3 years as President of the Western Region for Marine Max, the world’s largest retailer of Sea Ray, Hatteras, Boston Whaler and other upscale brands. Marine Max currently owns over 80 retail dealerships in the USA. Recently, Mr. Keim served as Eastern US Sales Director for Navigator Yachts (a California Company), increasing sales to the Eastern region by 300%.

Mr. Keim attended Portland State University, majoring in business.

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