ProTeam announces the retirement of Mark Reimers, Sr.

Boise, Idaho – ProTeam announced this week the retirement of Mark Reimers, one of the company’s original leaders and a key member of the executive management team.

Mr. Reimers joined ProTeam at its inception to lead the development of the commercial sales organization, of which he most recently served as Senior Vice President. Mr. Reimers has been instrumental in growing his division into one of the most successful commercial vacuum sales organizations in the world.

  A recognized expert in the industry, Mr. Reimers began his career as a building service contractor and served as principal of a manufacturer’s rep agency before joining ProTeam in 1987. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Mr. Reimers has built strong rep, distributor and customer relationships, helping ProTeam grow and adapt to changing markets, and has gained respect and friendships across the industry as a teacher and business mentor.

  Matt Wood, President and CEO of ProTeam, says, “Mark Reimers has been the embodiment of ProTeam for over 20 years. Along with Larry Shideler, founder of ProTeam, Mark was responsible for getting the business off the ground, and was instrumental in establishing the sales network which today is the envy of the industry. The concepts, techniques and systems in routine use today by our sales and marketing teams were pioneered and refined to an art by Mark. He weathered many a skeptic and many a rejection in the early years. However, his Teutonic stubbornness, indefatigable perseverance, and innate belief in ProTeam and its products enabled him to win converts and develop ProTeam into the thriving and well-respected business it is today.”

  Mr. Reimers was the recipient of the Manufacturer Representatives’ Distinguished Service Award in 2006 at ISSA. This award, presented on behalf of all independent manufacturer representatives, honors an individual within the industry who has had a positive image on the industry, the association, and has been supportive of manufacturer representatives.

  “Mark’s endless thirst for knowledge and self-improvement has set the pace for those who work with him. He has never been content with the status quo, always looking for better ways to do things and applying the lessons learned in the course of business and from the grander stage of life. He has been a great mentor for those new to the business, profession or industry, and has been an invaluable resource for me personally,” said Mr. Wood in announcing Mr. Reimers’ retirement to the company.

  ProTeam credits Mr. Reimers’ “calm demeanor, indomitable spirit and infallible logic” in helping ProTeam overcome the many obstacles the company faced in its early years in converting doubters of the backpack vacuum-a ProTeam innovation-into dedicated users. Mr. Reimers’ “consistent leadership, often through turbulent times, has been a textbook example in analyzing problems, developing solutions and rallying a team,” said Mr. Wood.



  To his many associates, Mr. Reimers was a friend first, and a businessman second. Says Mr. Wood, “It was his uncanny way of not just winning people’s business, but also their friendship, and then maintaining those relationships through good times and bad, that has been one of Mark’s, and ProTeam’s, most substantive accomplishments.”

  Mr. Reimers will continue to be associated with ProTeam as a mentor and advisor. Mr. Wood says the company “will miss his presence on a daily basis, but are also gratified and pleased that Mr. Reimers is now able to move away from the business and begin to enjoy the fruits of his labor and do all the things he has been talking about for so long.”

  Mark Reimers’ retirement officially began on September 1, 2009.