National Tooling and Machining Association Announces New President

CLEVELAND — The National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) begins the new decade with a new president, Roger Atkins. Atkins was appointed by the NTMA Board of Directors and joins the association following a successful career in contract manufacturing and in consulting for manufacturing companies. Atkins knows AtkinsNTMA well, having joined the association in 1979. He previously held every officer position for NTMA at the national level, including serving as NTMA Chairman in 2012, and served in every officer position in the Houston, Texas NTMA chapter.

“As a longtime member of NTMA, Roger knows and understands our association and its members,” NTMA board chair Mark Lashinske said. “He brings to this new role a dedication to NTMA and its members, a deep understanding of the value of our association, a lifetime of insight into our industry, and a true generosity of spirit demonstrated through his commitment to serving the companies that make our association and the entire manufacturing community great. We are excited to have Roger take the NTMA helm and lead our organization into the future.”

Atkins began his career at his family’s contract manufacturing business, immediately after graduating from Texas A&M University. Over the years, he spearheaded significant growth in multiple contract manufacturing companies, all of which also belonged to NTMA. His greatest success was growing a Texas-based contract manufacturing company from $22M to $156M which included acquisitions and international greenfield startups.

For the past several years, Atkins has operated RJ3 Enterprise, LLC, an executive advisory company, guiding small- to medium-sized contract manufacturing companies through growth and change and into success.

“As we welcome Roger, we also express our gratitude to Doug DeRose who has served tirelessly as NTMA’s Interim President,” Lashinske added. “Doug’s energy and dedication helped maintain our association’s high level of programming and member services during this time of transition and growth.”

NTMA is the national representative of the custom precision manufacturing industry in the United States. NTMA’s has 29 chapters throughout the US and nearly 1,200 member companies that design and manufacture special tools, dies, jigs, fixtures, gages, special machines and precision machined parts — representing more than $30 billion in sales annually. While many of NTMA members are privately owned independent businesses, the products and services they provide are vital to the nation’s economy, serving industries from aerospace to electronics to nuclear power. More information: www.ntma.org.