BEMA - June 2018 - 54

FAMILY ROUNDTABLE

GENERATIONS OF

BEMA
Over the past century, BEMA has
had the privilege of seating eight
multi-generational board chairmen
across four families. While some
members served nearly two decades
on the board, changes in bylaws led
to a 10-year commitment.
No matter the years, each of the four
BEMA families passed the torch
from father to son and deepened the
meaning behind BEMA's commitment
to family ties.
Dale S. LeCrone (1926-2014)
Founder, LeMatic; 1991-93 BEMA chairman
Dale J. "DJ" LeCrone
President, LeMatic; 2003-04 BEMA chairman
Richard Hoskins III (retired)
Founder, Colborne Foodbotics
2003-04 BEMA chairman
Richard "Rick" Hoskins IV
CEO, Colborne Foodbotics
BEMA third vice-chairman and 2021-22 chairman
Steve Wright (retired)
President, Hansaloy; 2000-01 BEMA chairman
Allen Wright
Vice-president, sales, Hansaloy
2016-17 BEMA chairman
Robert Zielsdorf (retired)
President, Peerless, Inc.
1993-94 BEMA chairman
Matt Zielsdorf
Vice-president, sales and marketing,
Apache Stainless Equip. Corp.
(formerly president, Peerless, Inc.)
2011-12 BEMA chairman

BEMA100 | 2018 | www.bema.org

Steve Wright

Allen Wright

Dale J. LeCrone

relationship that my dad had built with Jim and through
the American Bakers Association. I got to see that entire
evolution through different social and networking events
and dinners we had over the years with Jim and different
people who were involved in the creation of BIF.
Seeing what my dad went through - the time commitment from a leadership standpoint - was unbeOLHYDEOH ,W¶V D VLJQL¿FDQW WLPH FRPPLWPHQW , NQHZ
WKDWJRLQJLQWRLWDQG,WKLQNWKDW¶VDVLJQL¿FDQWDGYDQtage: When you're asked to do something, knowing
what you're getting yourself into was a huge advantage to me. My dad put in a ton of time helping develop what BEMA is today. And I think that was insight
I received that a more traditional member wouldn't
necessarily get.
Allen Wright: I'll say that being around BEMA a good
part of my life and hearing about it as a younger person
in the industry and watching the effort that it takes -
and seeing the benefit that are derived for your company and for yourself personally - definitely was inspiring
and helped me want to go down that same path.
Matt Zielsdorf: I did grow up as a BEMA kid. We would
attend these events, and of course, we'd make friends
with the other BEMA kids, and honestly, we had no idea
who they were and who their parents were. It could have
been kids of Peerless' biggest competitor, but we didn't
know and, at the time, didn't care. We were just kids having fun in, as we all know, beautiful places. As a kid growing up through that, it gave you an opportunity to learn
how to interact with not only adults but also adult business owners. I think that helped carry me through into
early parts of my career, being able to sit and talk intelligently with an adult in a company's leadership position.
Dale J. "DJ" LeCrone: I was around it my whole life,
so I had the advantage of being privy to things as Dad
was going through it. I was the kid in the corner of the
room during the conversations about the IBIE show and
the debates with our partners there. So, I was really a
part of what was going on there. Like Rick said, you get

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BEMA - June 2018