Difference Makers
Do The Right Thing By executing simple things well, The Progressive Group grew from a one-car garage operation to a $30 million-plus business. WORDS BY JAMIE SORCHER
Everybody knows Detroit is the car capital of the country, but it’s in America’s furniture capital, Grand Rapids, Mich. where The Progressive Group, a fusion of three companies, makes its home. Progressive Sales & Marketing (PSM) offers manufacturers representation of high value product lines in the mobile and home electronics industry. Progressive Automated Distributing (PAD) distributes quality home audio, video and integration products servicing the retail, custom integration and commercial channels. R&D Distributing fulfills “just in
time” supply of mobile product lines and offers high value, high profit mixes. In business for almost 30 years, Dave Russell and Bob Walker founded Progressive and in 1997, they brought on Jason Dubie who now serves as Eastern Business Manager of The Progressive Group, PSM-R&D. He handles sales management for the Midwest and upper Midwest as well as operations for the whole company. “I was offered an opportunity to buy part of the company a few years later,” Dubie said. “And since that time, Dave and I have grown the company together so we’ve been business partners and close friends for about 20 years.”
Jason Dubie is the Eastern Business Manager of The Progressive Group and handles sales management for the Midwest and upper Midwest, along with operations for the whole company. Creating a Win-Win-Win Situation
Progressive employs 34 people including Brad Rachoza (left) and David Leathers here at the company’s front desk.
38 Mobile Electronics June 2019
The backbone of Progressive is its set of core values. “We run our company based on making decisions to form longterm, profitable partnerships with both our customers and our vendors,” Dubie said. “When we are faced with decisions day to day, we focus on what’s going to be the best way to continue our relationships on both sides of the fence.” Today, Progressive employs 34 people and has six different warehouses. “The strength of our team—of any company—is the people,” Dubie added. “From the top down, we are putting in the hours.” Having started out as a rep firm, the company’s core pattern favors the rep
