BILL YEARGIN

PRESIDENT & CEO, CORRECT CRAFT, ORLANDO

Correct Craft is in the recreational boating industry with over 2,000 employees and $1 billion in revenue. While the company is headquartered in Orlando, it has manufacturing plants across the U.S. It’s cultivated a strong culture of service to others and has funded community service projects throughout the year at each of its locations and has served people all over the world, including in Ethiopia, India, Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda and across Central America and the Caribbean. Yeargin, who plans to retire next year, chairs the National Marine Manufacturers Association, representing 36,000 companies and over 800,000 employees and has been invited to the White House nine times to discuss matters of importance to the industry. He’s been published hundreds of times and authored six books.

EDUCATION: Florida Atlantic University (BBA), Nova Southeastern University (MBA and Honorary Doctorate)

FIRST JOB: Bagging groceries at Pantry Pride. I can’t overstate how much I learned working there.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: I wanted to be a consultant and was on my way to doing that until I was recruited to be the Correct Craft CEO 20 years ago.

SOMETHING SURPRISING: When I was 13 years old, I wrecked a friend’s brand-new car. She had just gotten it for her 16th birthday and the car had less than 30 miles on it. She let me drive it, and I ran it into a school bus on the school property. What a lesson!

INDUSTRY TREND: The most notable trend in our industry is not a good one. It is the increasing age of boat buyers. As an industry we need to do a better job showing young people how much fun it is to boat!