Throughout his career, Jerry Farmer has been driven by a strong entrepreneurial spirit, visionary strategic leadership and a commitment to delivering excellence in customer service. In 2014, he joined forces with Wayne Conner to form MPI, where he currently serves as president. In this role, Jerry leverages his long-standing career in the manufacturing and mineral processing industries, as well as numerous career wins creating successful businesses, to lead business development and operations expansion efforts for the organization.
Jerry’s early career was marked by a series of successful start-ups in mineral processing, rubber recycling and refining, and specialized equipment manufacturing, beginning in 1987 with Process Equipment Company, Inc.
In 1989, Jerry launched Centrifugal Services, Inc. (CSI), which grew from an after-market parts organization to one of the most recognized centrifugal dryer companies in the United States. Jerry sold CSI to Elgin National Industries in 1995, where he remained president until 2000. During this time, Jerry focused on diversifying CSI’s client base, shifting the focus from 95% coal-related production in 1995 to more than 65% non-coal by 2000. In 2000, Jerry accepted a position as vice president of corporate development with Elgin Equipment Group, where he designed a line of rotary breakers, spearheaded the development of several centrifuge designs and led global sales development efforts in Australia and South Africa until 2014.
In addition to launching, growing and selling two coal industry-related companies, Jerry identified an opportunity to repurpose recycled rubber and form one of Illinois’s largest rubber recycling facilities, RDF, Inc., in 1992. By 2004, when the company was purchased by North West Rubber Inc., RDF had grown from a start-up to a sales operation that processed and sold 20 million pounds of rubber annually.
Jerry’s expertise in designing equipment, processing minerals and delivering innovative growth strategies bolsters MPI’s capabilities as the company develops its equipment manufacturing and calcium carbonate production divisions.