2021 MHInsider Industry Awards

– 2021 –INDUSTRY AWARDS

In Recognition of the Highest Achievements in Manufactured Housing

The second annual MHInsider Industry Awards tell a decades-long story of hard work, ingenuity, perseverance and a passion for innovative thought and business leadership. The manufactured housing professionals at Datacomp and MHVillage, through MHInsider magazine, are honored to be able to recognize the colleagues awarded for their high achievements.

Our 14-member editorial board, listed below, assisted in selecting among about 75 candidates for the MHInsider Industry Awards. The list of deserving honorees was deliberated until there were 21 nominees awards in five categories.

We employed the volunteer efforts of more than a dozen state and regional manufactured housing industry association directors to conduct a vote on the safe, and secure voting platform eBallot.

So congratulations to all of the winners. Thank you for the work you do!

Advocacy Award

Honors efforts toward outreach and education that reach beyond professional position or title

Influencer Award

Honors individuals who, by their presence and authentic implementation of ideas, have created widely held business practices and wholesale improvements for the industry

Leadership Award

Honors individuals who have earned the highest levels of industry achievement through their corporate or organizational leadership approach

Legacy Award

Honors manufactured housing professionals whose overall career contributions are certain to create meaningful and lasting industry improvement and excellence

Visionary Award

Honors those who have brought to market the coolest concept or product, the idea that makes the job easier, the offering better, the customer experience more meaningful

Honorary Judges

Ken Anderson Amy Bliss Frank Bowman Ron Breymier Deanna Fields Andrea Greene Randy Grumbine Jennifer Lassen Jennifer Hall Logan Hanes Jess Maxcy Marla McAfee DJ Pendleton Leo Poggione

MHInsider Editorial Board

George Allen, EducateMHC Paul Barretto, MHInitiatives Paul Bradley, ROC USA Barry Cole, Manufactured Housing Insurance Services Kevan Enger, Capstone Stacey Epperson, NextStep Suzanne Felber, The Lifestylist Dawn Highhouse, MHVillage/Datacomp Maria Horton, Newport Pacific Darren Krolewski, Datacomp/MHVillage John Neet, MAI Karl Radde, Southern Comfort Homes Patrick Revere, MHInsider/MHVillage TC Sheppard, UMH Properties

Industry Awards ADVOCACY AWARD

Karl Radde, President of Southern Comfort Homes

Karl Radde, the winner of the MHInsider Advocacy Award, is a 1993 graduate of Texas A&M University where he started working part time for Yellow Rose Mobile Homes as a sales associate. After graduation, Radde became the full time finance manager working with national lenders in the manufactured housing industry. In 1999, the dealership became Southern Comfort Homes and evolved into one of the top five independent retailers in Texas. Radde devotes significant time to the Texas Manufactured Housing Association and the Manufactured Housing Institute to stay ahead of trends and activities that affect a consumer’s abilities to purchase and finance manufactured housing, lending his knowledge and experience into the conversation in effort to create a more meaningful and beneficial transaction for everyone.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements? Growing up, I was active in 4-H and FFA, which taught me communication skills. I was raised in a good Christian home on a ranch where we took care of sheep and cattle. That helped develop my work ethic and every year I would show that livestock in the county and state fairs, which taught me responsibility. While I was attending Texas A&M University, I went to work in sales at a local manufactured home retailer and I wasn’t as successful in sales as I would have liked, but, thankfully, they saw potential in me for working with lenders and insurance and put me in charge of finance and insurance. We eventually bought the company and it became Southern Comfort Homes where I am today.

INFLUENCER AWARD

Steve Schaub, CEO of YES Communities

Steve Schaub, the winner of the MHInsider Influencer Award, is the founder and CEO of YES Communities, one of the largest portfolio ownership groups of manufactured home communities in the United States. Schaub created a company that focuses on building and operating affordable communities nationwide and connecting residents together to form communities in every sense of the word. He oversees all the company's acquisitions, capital market activities, and corporate strategy. His influence with the company and in the industry has been felt particularly in the area of resident relations, hospitality, and service to the customer.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements? Throughout my career and being in various roles has helped me gain a better understanding of the business and having boots on the ground helps me understand what my team members might need to help them do their jobs better and the support I can give them to succeed. I worked as a sales and leasing agent and as a community manager, regional manager and then went into operations. Having that field experience gave me a more acute understanding of the day-to-day business. My life skill that has contributed to my achievements is really about relationship building, learning from others, and being committed to those I work with. Creating motivation for my team and treating everyone as equals is what makes me love what I do. My team members know how much I admire them and how they matter. YES Communities has been successful because of our employees, their dedication, and their love for our residents. That’s what inspires me to continue to move our business and the Industry forward.

Industry Awards LEADERSHIP AWARD

Sam Landy, President of UMH Properties

Sam Landy, the winner of the MHInsider Leadership Award, works at the highest levels of the manufactured housing industry, from litigating on disparate impact against communities and residents, to establishing more generous financing terms for community owners who rent affordable housing, to expanding affordable living and homeownership from their homebase in New Jersey down the Atlantic states, and now expanding nationwide. UMH operates 127 communities in 10 states.

What do you view as the biggest accomplishment of your career? Obtaining Fannie Mae financing for communities with 60% rental homes. This dramatically increases the affordability of our rental homes and financed home sales. Second is listing UMH on the New York Stock Exchange.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements? Perseverance. We persevered through many business cycles, but never giving up and knowing we can profitably and fairly provide quality affordable housing kept us going through some long downturns.

Expanded Q&A with the winners of our 2021 MHInsider Industry Awards can be found at our blog site www.mhinsider.com.

LEGACY AWARD

Don Westphal, Partner with The Nadi Group

Don Westphal, the winner of the MHInsider Legacy Award, developed his first community in 1964. He was paid $45. Westphal opened his Rochester, Mich., landscape architecture firm in 1969. He has planned and designed all variety of property in his career, but his heart is in the affordable housing sector, bringing to life communities for workers and families, and has become a leader in smart, holistic design of manufactured home community and RV resorts all across the country. His company in 2020 merged with Nadi Group, a landscape architecture and design firm operating in Canada and the U.S.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements? Our ability to look at each project as a unique opportunity to change the face of the earth in a positive way while stressing affordability is important. Involvement in industry organizations, local and church activities have created rewarding experiences and friendships that I cherish. Being able to withstand the ups and downs of a small business owner is a skill that is needed to survive and exceed in one’s life work. I have been blessed in so many ways.

VISIONARY AWARD

Gub Mix, State Associations Director/Event Organizer

Gub Mix, the winner of the MHInsider Visionary Award, is a legend among state executives and industry-wide, having operated four organizations simultaneously in the westerns U.S. — Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Mix, who is related to the Old West film star Tom Mix, has been described as a “fearless promoter”. He organized and hosted the first industry congress in Las Vegas, which became the MHI Congress & Expo held each year in the spring.

What do you view as the biggest accomplishment of your career? The biggest achievement in my 34-year career within the MH industry was the establishment of the National Manufactured Housing Congress in Las Vegas in 1991. Between l986 and 1990 I held a series of regional MH conventions in Reno, Lake Tahoe, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Las Vegas, including attendees from three to 11 states. Following a very successful meeting in Las Vegas in 1990, and since the MH industry had no official annual get-together, I decided to go national and booked the old Desert Inn Resort for the event. MHI agreed to assist with program planning and approximately 600 industry leaders attended. Between 1991 and 1998 we grew from 600 to 2,000 annual attendees and our exhibitor count grew from 100 to about 250. Following the 1998 event, MHI agreed to buy my ownership interest in the Congress and retained me for an additional five years to serve as Congress chairman.