Jarrod Irwin, 2013
Published on
The keynote speaker at Aquinas’s 2013 commencement will be Peter Perez, president
and CEO of Carter Products, Inc.
Perez has been a leader in a variety of industries, from musical instruments to construction to eye-care products. He has served numerous organizations devoted to supporting business locally and nationally, including the Manufacturers Council, the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Employers’ Association, and the National Association of Manufacturers. He met with President George W. Bush in October 2008, discussing what to do in the wake of the mortgage crisis, and from 2010 to 2012 he worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Under Perez’s leadership, Carter Products has received recognition for its innovative products. Notably, his company won the 1994 Challengers Award for its Flip-Pod Vacuum Clamp system, for use with computer-controlled wood routers.
Perez said that he never expected the call from Aquinas’s president, Dr. Juan Olivarez, to speak at the College’s commencement. “I thought he was calling to have lunch,” Perez said, adding that they have been friends since working together at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.
Perez’s first business experience was in manufacturing musical instruments. This industry has a strong connection to Perez’s hometown, Elkhart, Indiana. “Elkhart was a center of musical instrument manufacturers going back to the turn of the century,” he said. After receiving his MBA in 1967, he joined C. G. Conn, becoming Conn’s president in 1974. He has served as executive vice president of CBS Musical Instruments, as well as president of the renowned piano-maker Steinway & Sons.
Decades later, Perez is still passionate about music. He serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Grand Rapids Symphony. He also plays the piano and the viola.
Perez became involved with Carter Products in 1990. He said that his wife had a close relationship with the Carters, who never had children and thought of Mrs. Perez as their daughter. She inherited stock in the company after the Carters died, and her husband was asked to join the company’s board.
In the two decades since then, Carter Products has grown into diverse markets. “It was solely focused in the 1970s and early 1980s on the industrial woodworking market,” Perez said. However, he recognized that woodworking appealed to ordinary consumers too. He said that woodworking could become a popular hobby among Americans and Canadians, since they tend to have larger homes and more disposable income than people in other countries. This created a thriving market for consumer woodworking tools.
Carter has also made an impression on the alternative energy industry. The company produces a laser alignment system for manufacturing windmill blades. Perez said that since windmill blades must be made to exact specifications, it used to require days of hand measurements to make them. The laser alignment system reduces the amount of time needed to produce these blades, as well as the threat of human error damaging the final product.
Perez got to know Aquinas through the College’s president. Perez described a chance meeting with his friend at an airport. His overnight flight was delayed, leaving Perez tired and upset. Then he bumped into Olivarez, who had booked a seat on the same flight, and got into a conversation that turned that long night into a joy. “A three-hour flight took 15 minutes,” he said.
Perez wants to keep the theme of his commencement address a surprise, but he promised to be concise. He said that when he graduated, the day was so momentous for so many reasons, the speaker seemed like the least significant part. He wants to let the graduates “get on with life.”
Aquinas’s 2013 commencement is at 2 pm, May 4 at the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center.
Perez has been a leader in a variety of industries, from musical instruments to construction to eye-care products. He has served numerous organizations devoted to supporting business locally and nationally, including the Manufacturers Council, the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Employers’ Association, and the National Association of Manufacturers. He met with President George W. Bush in October 2008, discussing what to do in the wake of the mortgage crisis, and from 2010 to 2012 he worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Under Perez’s leadership, Carter Products has received recognition for its innovative products. Notably, his company won the 1994 Challengers Award for its Flip-Pod Vacuum Clamp system, for use with computer-controlled wood routers.
Perez said that he never expected the call from Aquinas’s president, Dr. Juan Olivarez, to speak at the College’s commencement. “I thought he was calling to have lunch,” Perez said, adding that they have been friends since working together at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.
Perez’s first business experience was in manufacturing musical instruments. This industry has a strong connection to Perez’s hometown, Elkhart, Indiana. “Elkhart was a center of musical instrument manufacturers going back to the turn of the century,” he said. After receiving his MBA in 1967, he joined C. G. Conn, becoming Conn’s president in 1974. He has served as executive vice president of CBS Musical Instruments, as well as president of the renowned piano-maker Steinway & Sons.
Decades later, Perez is still passionate about music. He serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Grand Rapids Symphony. He also plays the piano and the viola.
Perez became involved with Carter Products in 1990. He said that his wife had a close relationship with the Carters, who never had children and thought of Mrs. Perez as their daughter. She inherited stock in the company after the Carters died, and her husband was asked to join the company’s board.
In the two decades since then, Carter Products has grown into diverse markets. “It was solely focused in the 1970s and early 1980s on the industrial woodworking market,” Perez said. However, he recognized that woodworking appealed to ordinary consumers too. He said that woodworking could become a popular hobby among Americans and Canadians, since they tend to have larger homes and more disposable income than people in other countries. This created a thriving market for consumer woodworking tools.
Carter has also made an impression on the alternative energy industry. The company produces a laser alignment system for manufacturing windmill blades. Perez said that since windmill blades must be made to exact specifications, it used to require days of hand measurements to make them. The laser alignment system reduces the amount of time needed to produce these blades, as well as the threat of human error damaging the final product.
Perez got to know Aquinas through the College’s president. Perez described a chance meeting with his friend at an airport. His overnight flight was delayed, leaving Perez tired and upset. Then he bumped into Olivarez, who had booked a seat on the same flight, and got into a conversation that turned that long night into a joy. “A three-hour flight took 15 minutes,” he said.
Perez wants to keep the theme of his commencement address a surprise, but he promised to be concise. He said that when he graduated, the day was so momentous for so many reasons, the speaker seemed like the least significant part. He wants to let the graduates “get on with life.”
Aquinas’s 2013 commencement is at 2 pm, May 4 at the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center.