Mike Boyer: Involved In Industry Opportunities

As GE Appliances’ Director of Product Management for RV Air Conditioners, Mike Boyer has a wealth of experience that he contributes to the RV industry.

“I’m from Elkhart, IN, born and raised,” Mike says. “And when you live in Elkhart, it's hard not to be involved in the industry.”

In fact, Mike was already involved in the RV industry before graduating from college, spending his college summers working for Sportscoach (a division of Coachman RV). And, despite obtaining his degree in telecommunications from Ball State University, Mike ultimately decided to pursue a career in the RV industry instead. 

“I was involved in a couple of radio stations in Indianapolis, IN, and Anderson, IN, but it wasn't moving fast enough for me,” he explains. “So, I moved back to Elkhart and got involved in the RV industry’s supplier sector, and I've worked in a variety of positions within the industry. There’s not too much I haven't done. I've worked in almost every part of the industry, except for retail.” 

A few of Mike’s early industry experiences include Burnstine’s Distributing, Elkhart Traveler, and RC Industries. He also owned his own park model business, Quality Concepts, which he launched with two co-founders. 

Unfortunately, Quality Concepts was launched only three months before Desert Storm, which presented a massive challenge for the business. However, Mike turned this into an opportunity to learn about another side of the RV industry: marketing. “The industry came to a halt, and the dealers were having a difficult time selling units,” Mike explains. “So, I became involved with a marketing service organization called Outpost Magazine. We worked with dealers across the country, putting together small mail order magazines that promoted the dealership. We would run specials for them, highlight the dealers’ departments— things like that. Then we'd send it to registered RV owners in the dealers’ area. I had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest RV dealer names in the industry.”

Ultimately, Mike and his co-founders decided to sell Quality Concepts, and Mike secured employment with Atwood Mobile Products. “That led me to where I am now. I became very involved in the supplier side of the industry by working for Atwood’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Dave Schutz, who was very involved with the RV Industry Association and is in the RV/MH Hall of Fame. We made a pretty good team. We worked together for several years at Atwood, and then we both moved over to Dometic, where I stayed for about a dozen years and worked my way up to Director of OEM Sales. Dave retired from the company and, from there, I moved on to GE Appliances, where I work now as the Director of Product Management for RV Air Conditioners.”

Headquartered in Louisville, KY, and with a total of nine manufacturing plants across five states, GE Appliances is a major appliance manufacturer that contributes $24.5 billion to the national GDP. The company has nearly 16,000 team members across the US and supports an additional 90,000 jobs through its business. Its employees build appliances that are used in half of all US homes.

Ultimately, one household appliance was responsible for bringing GE Appliances and the RV industry together. “When I became involved with GE Appliances, they were still relatively new to the industry. We'd only been marketing our products for five years at that point,” Mike recalls. “GE Appliances originally got involved because the RV industry started using residential-styled appliances— namely, refrigerators. GE Appliances noticed that their Elkhart distributor, Midwest Sales and Service, had started selling a lot of refrigerators. So, GE Appliances investigated further and learned more about the RV industry.”

Since the RV industry was buying so many of GE Appliance’s refrigerators, Mike says, GE realized this could be an opportunity to encourage the purchase of other products. “So, Kevin Herrity, who worked for Midwest Sales and Service at the time (and now works with GE Appliances), let us know that air conditioners were a terrific area of opportunity, because there were only two main suppliers for that. That was about the time I got involved.” 

“I became a liaison for GE Appliances in the RV industry, since I’d grown up in it,” Mike explains. “Because of all the positions I've held, I knew a lot of people. I was essentially started as an ambassador because people buy from people. My team and I would connect with companies in the RV industry and introduce them to our products, including air conditioners, and explain why they should do business with GE Appliances.”

During this time, Mike and his team also focused on emphasizing GE Appliances’ dedication to the RV industry. “Some bigger companies have previously worked with the RV industry before deciding they didn’t want to pursue it anymore,” Mike says. “There was some concern that GE Appliances would do the same, so my team would reassure RV industry clients that we’re fully committed, and going to continue becoming even more involved with the RV industry.” (Fun fact: GE Appliances is an Authorized Learning Partner with the RV Technical Institute—additional evidence of its staunch support for the RV sector.)

Now in his current role, which Mike has held for the last five years, he focuses on strategic direction. “I help direct where our business goes in terms of the RV air conditioner product. I also work to introduce and advance GE Appliance products in the RV industry,” he explains. 

Having established its foothold in the RV industry, GE Appliances is focused on advancing its products going forward. “We’ve been establishing our core product line to get us on par with everybody else. And now that we're entrenched in the RV market, we’re shifting our focus to innovating products and technology that are going to move the industry forward in terms of the benefits to the consumer,” Mike explains. “We’re focusing on ease of use and adding in additional benefits so that the product can perform in a variety of environments. We’re going to be bringing these products to the forefront in the next in the next year or two.”

In addition to his various job responsibilities throughout his RV industry career, Mike is also a member of the RV Industry Association’s Market Information Committee, which he first joined while he was working for Dometic. “I’ve been involved with the committee for several years,” he recalls. “I've really enjoyed working with the Market Information Committee. It’s an extremely important Committee, and, in my opinion, our job is singular in function: getting the number right. We need our forecasts to be as accurate as possible for the industry, and we do this by working with ITR Economics to provide input as a committee to help them fine-tune the forecast. There are a lot of people who depend on that number to be able to plan for their businesses.”

When reflecting on his lengthy career in the RV sector, Mike notes the industry’s unique interpersonal dynamics. “The RV industry is a very personal industry. It’s a people-oriented industry,” he says. “And I think that’s partly because Elkhart is a small community. These are the people that you’re in business with, or competitors with— but they're also your neighbors. Your kids go to school together. You're doing things together outside of the job. And, if you get involved in the industry early enough, then you’ll grow up with others in the industry and forge those relationships. That's what just naturally happens over time.”

Additionally, Mike emphasizes how many avenues for success are available in the RV sector. “I hope the takeaway from my involvement in the RV industry is there are a lot of opportunities. There’s a lot of paths that you can take and be extremely successful. We have a lot of great minds in this industry, and they're involved in all sorts of ways. When I first got involved in the RV industry, I naturally took a sales direction. But then I discovered that there’s so many opportunities, and that there's a lot of different ways that you can forge a path. I'm fortunate that I've been able to be involved and contribute to the RV Industry Association, and I’ve been very blessed to be in this industry.”