Meet Michael McKeag, President and CEO

“I didn’t want to become an expert at just one thing or one particular area,” says President and CEO Michael McKeag.

As a lifelong learner and son of a teacher, who loves to get his hands dirty, his interests lie deep in all facets of business. All facets for Mike means creating business plans, reviewing income statements, creating fiberglass molds, etc.…literally, all facets.

A graduate of Luther College, Mike received his degree in Accounting with a minor in Economics. During and after achieving CPA status, he practiced tax accounting specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

But, not wanting to be “an expert in just one thing” he jumped at an opportunity to bring his love of business and numbers to the Latitude team and to return to Poweshiek County. After learning the business, he had the chance to partner with Tom Latimer on the development of an entirely new business, from the ground up. ImageFirst™ LLC, a wholesale exterior manufacturing company, had been Mike’s primary focus until about 7 years ago when he was asked to take on the President/CEO role of Latimer Group in its entirety.

Tom Latimer commented, “Mike is the right person, at the right time to take the lead at Latitude-Latimer Group and ImageFirst. He has a strong and fluid financial mind, understands the manufacturing process and appreciates the importance of sales and marketing. Moreover, he respects the Company’s employee and customer oriented culture. His quiet but effective approach to problem solving allows for others to feel comfortable in a collective decision making process.”

“Strategic and methodical growth” are Mike’s main goals as the leader of the Latimer Group. This is a big vague goal, but breaking it down to our people, our departments (Sales, Project Management, Design, Production, and Installation) and core regions (Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois) it starts to come together.

Continued Growth

“Growing our people through training and focus groups helps enhance our versatility by utilizing new technology, processes, and innovative thinking which increases the capabilities of all of our regions," says Mike. "All of this must happen while maintaining quality products and the integrity of the level of service we provide to our customers.

“The future looks great, we’ve weathered tough times and come out successful on the other side," Mike continued. "We are fortunate to have great customers, an excellent team, and look forward to continued growth.”

Mike and his wife Cara enjoy traveling to visit family (five children altogether), living on a small hobby farm, live music, and vacations that are warm and sunny!

Mike’s words to live by are: “The best ability is availability. It's not hard to make decisions once you know what your values are."