ILMA Compoundings – January 2019 - 32

PORTRAIT
Mike Profetto
Vice President, Product Engineering,
Gold Eagle Co.
"As you go through life, you need to challenge yourself
to constantly learn new things to remain current and
adopt new opportunities to expand your knowledge.
For me, it has included general contracting two
homes; installing 4,000 square feet of marble flooring;
installing a 72-cubic-yard concrete driveway with
curbs; earning an MBA in manufacturing; raising two
daughters with my wife of 47 years; and guiding our
two granddaughters by providing role models for their
future and traveling with them."

TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM
"A 28-day trip to 11 countries in Europe with my wife and
daughters was an eye-opening experience. It documented
the age of Europe and its relation to the United States and
brought history into focus for me. My family has also traveled
together to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, the Bahamas, Florida and
California. In addition, my wife and I have traveled much of
the world and cruised to the Amazon last November. We have
been to China, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Central America and the
Panama Canal. Our Disney cruises and trips to Florida with our
granddaughters will always hold special memories for my wife
and me, as we saw these girls grow up before our eyes during
our travels during those years."

FABLED FACIAL HAIR
"Facial hair as a mustache or beard has been with me since
college, although marriage forced me to be clean-shaven:
my mother ordered me to shave or she would not attend
the wedding. During the 1990s, I came across the European
mustache contests and decided to grow a handlebar mustache and enter until I realized that my mustache, while good
by some standards, was not up to the competitive European
mustache contest standards. As I aged, the work to maintain
the mustache was no longer worth the time and effort. I then
converted it into a Santa Claus beard. Now children and adults
come up to me and tell me what they want for Christmas."

LED BY EXAMPLE
"Bill Gurolnick hired me at the Gold Eagle Co. 38 years ago this
year and mentored me by challenging me with projects and
assisting me when there were issues or questions. When Bill was
in his early 50s, he had spent 10 years grooming me to take over
his responsibilities. These challenges helped maintain my interest in the job and allowed me to constantly learn about new
areas. He also encouraged me to join national organizations,
which led to my presidency of the Petroleum Packaging Council
(PPC) and our company's ILMA membership."

JANUARY 2019

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

FATHER FUELS FASCINATION
"I like to build and fix things. The satisfaction of creating, or
fixing, and learning about something new has been important to me ever since I was 7 or 8 years old, pounding nails
- hundreds of nails - underneath my uncle's indoor porch.
While growing up, my friends and I were car enthusiasts and
wanted to learn about, and work on, cars. To help us out, my
dad would purchase a vehicle that needed some work but was
drivable. He would allow us to perform body work on the car,
work on the interior, assist him with minor engine repairs and
prepare it for paint. The vehicle would be painted and another
car would be purchased. This was a great learning experience
and continued my lifelong fascination with cars."

GREETINGS AND SHADES
"Just before starting a new job, my wife and I went on a ski
weekend where we took a tumble while tubing, and I broke my
glasses. Because I didn't have a spare pair, I walked into my
first day of work wearing dark brown tinted aviator sunglasses
and proceeded to meet my new co-workers. While it made
for a hilarious story afterwards, the group meeting with the
vice president was extremely uncomfortable. He must have
thought, 'Who is this guy with the tinted sunglasses?'"

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ILMA Compoundings – January 2019

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