Tammy Speal is General Manager of Valence Surface Technologies’ Blairsville, Pennsylvania, facility, a 55,000-square-foot operation that has become one of the most versatile, defense-focused finishing operations in the region.

For Magnum Powder Coating owners Nancy and Steve Couturier and their son Matt, it was always the plan that their son would take over someday when the parents retired from their Comstock Park, Michigan, business, which they have owned for more than three decades.

Kyle Ingham is the owner of Ingham's Powder Coating, which operates two facilities in Pennsylvania. The original shop began as a modest 10,000-square-foot operation in Stevens, Pennsylvania.

Jim Meyer is the President of Aviation Repair Solutions in Long Beach, California, a highly specialized finishing and repair operation that plays a critical role in keeping aircraft operational.

Greystone Machining & Plating began as a Rhode Island plating shop in 1932 and has evolved into a global manufacturing partner serving automotive, medical, aerospace, defense, and semiconductor markets.

James Simonelli’s is executive director of the Metal Finishers Association of California, a role he assumed on January 1.

Jason Brassard is the owner of Brapsard Powder Coating in Franklin, New Hampshire, and grew his powder coating business the same way many others have: a small setup, a lot of trial and error, and a passion that quickly outgrew the garage.

James DeDeus is President of JMD Industries in New Hampshire, which recently acquired Massachusetts’ Patriot Coatings.

Stephen Walters is CEO of Progressive Coating, a Chicago-area job shop that has evolved from a thermoplastic coating specialist into a multi-process supplier supporting automotive, electrical infrastructure, and electric vehicle markets across North America.

Dallas Cooley is Chief Servant and CEO at Georgia Powder Coating in Gainesville, Georgia, a company approaching its 27th year in business, and is preparing for a facility expansion that will more than double its footprint.

Stephen Sharretts is the CEO and third-generation leader of Sharretts Plating in York, Pennsylvania, an electroplating operation that has lasted 100 years and weathered the industry’s many storms.

Natalia Stephen is the owner of Compound Metal Coatings and CEO and Owner of PVD Advanced Technologies, both located in Ontario, Canada, and looks forward to her 25th anniversary in 2026.

Marko Duffy is Managing Director at TDF Metal Finishing in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Imran Shamsi is Vice President at Premier Metal Processing in San Diego, which offers anodizing, electrolytic nickel, bright tin, chemfilm, electroless nickel, electropolish, passivation, and zinc to customers across various industries.

Mark Morris is President of J&M Plating in Rockford, Illinois, which is a large fastener coating and small stamping operation.

John Cutchin got his start in the finishing industry at 18, when he would bronze baby shoes in his hometown of Easley, South Carolina.

Adam Thomas, Vice President of the family-owned company R.J. Thomas Manufacturing. is a Cherokee, Iowa, manufacturer of Pilot Rock park equipment that was founded in 1959.

Jo’Van Wiggins is the Chief Operations Officer of EMI Quality Plating in Evansville, Indiana, a 50,000-square-foot business that is central to many manufacturing operations in the U.S.

Since 2017, Doug Orantes and his wife, Loida, have been trying to get Aero Plating in Lancaster, California, off the ground.

Jim Leidig is the General Manager of Matrix Finishing in Harrington, Delaware.

Ashley and Jason Hunsaker are owners of HTS Coatings in Madison, Illinois, which offers thermal spray coating for corrosion protection.

Guillermo Aguilera and Brenda Tapia are owners of Metal Chem in Chatsworth, California, a shop that offers chem film, passivation, anodizing, electroless nickel, zinc, and phosphate conversion on the plating side, as well as Mil-Specs, urethanes, epoxy, and polyester hybrids on the powder coating side, in addition to liquid coatings.