Leadership skills can be forged through so many different circumstances and life experiences. These three local gentlemen, Bill McBrayer, R. Mukund and Ian Orr, have each embarked on their own long-term commitments to personal excellence. Each journey prepared them for the moment when a passion project, company stewardship, or an elected role became an opportunity to step up to lead and inspire others. From each story, we learn how an individual's path can lead to success for themselves and create new opportunities for their communities.
Bill McBrayer
President, Fairborn Equipment Company, Midwest
Founder & President, McBrayer Legacy Spirits
Entrepreneurship has been in Bill McBrayer’s daily life for more than 25 years, leading the Fairborn Equipment Company, a supplier of loading dock doors and equipment. In that time, he’s learned that business success isn’t instant: it’s a product of working hard, but also being patient.
Bill rediscovered this lesson recently, when he launched McBrayer Legacy Spirits, where they produce a spirit that requires years of patience to age fully: bourbon.
He brought a special family connection to the bourbon business when he started working on his idea nine years ago. His ancestor, Judge William Harrison McBrayer, was one of the most famous bourbon producers in the world in the 1800s. Using a mash bill from a historic letter from “the Judge,” Bill is now working with his father, WG McBrayer III, to create the modern equivalent of that mash bill, bringing new life to a 175-year-old recipe.
The first release in 2021 sold out quickly and was met with strong support from the bourbon community. New releases of the two bourbons they produce now, Old McBrayer and W.H. McBrayer, will continue periodically as new batches are ready.
“I’m still really excited about it,” says Bill. “There are endless possibilities for what we can do with this company.”
Bill has enjoyed building a business that celebrates his family’s roots and history, all while living in Mason and appreciating everything this great community has to offer his family.
If you’d like to hear about new bourbon releases, Bill encourages you to join their free Legacy Club email through their website, McBrayerLegacySpirits.com.
R. Mukund
CEO & Founder, Benchmark Digital Partners, LLC
R. Mukund understands, because of extensive education and experience, that a company’s environmental, safety, and compliance commitments are only as good as the company’s ability to measure, track, and respond to the data.
His own journey in environmental engineering led him to a position at General Electric (GE) where he sought feedback from internal stakeholders who ultimately needed a software solution that was versatile enough for different divisions to track and respond to key information about environment, safety, and other compliance needs, all from an easy-to-use dashboard system.
The result was a robust software product that was so well-received within GE that it became a new, separate company with Mukund at the helm. Founded as Gensuite® and now re-branded to Benchmark ESG®, the business continues to grow and find customers all over the world for its cloud-hosted, SaaS platform supporting operational compliance programs and now ESG data management.
“We got feedback from a user who said that since he’d started using our platform, he’d never been more organized in his life,” Mukund says. “We want companies to be able to operate sustainably and responsibly, but also to be able to tell their story with confidence using our platform.”
Currently, 350 companies (and counting) rely on the software solution that Mukund and his team developed. They adapt the software frequently. For instance, when COVID-19 emerged, the team created tracking and measurement information within their software suite that helped companies monitor and manage COVID-19 risks and make the challenging decisions that arose in order to keep their employees and customers safe.
Mukund joined the Mason Deerfield Chamber after Benchmark (Gensuite) opened their home office in the area. He was impressed with the warm welcome they received and the opportunities for collaboration and mutual support of the business community.
“The Mason Deerfield Chamber has done a great job setting itself up to expand, with a huge variety of businesses it can support,” he says. “The attitude is ‘come join, let’s build something together, and that matches what we invite our subscribers to do as well!’” BenchmarkDigitalESG.com
Ian Orr
Account Executive Officer, Travelers
Mason City Schools Board of Education Member
In 2021, Ian Orr became the first person of color elected to the Mason City Schools Board of Education.
“I hope to be a trailblazer, the first but not the last or the only,” says Ian. “I’m just really grateful to be able to represent my community in this way.”
As an insurance professional, he sees what it takes to incorporate many perspectives into a decision and bring people together to implement a solution. He’s also a person who always pays attention to the numbers and data, a trait he brings to his work for the district.
Ian also brings plenty of personal experience and a vested interest in the success of Mason’s schools, with his own four children coming up through the district, two of whom are currently enrolled.
He ran a campaign in 2019 that was not successful, but the friendships and support created during that campaign came to fruition two years later. He persevered and was elected to office in 2021. He credits his wife and children as major supporters throughout both campaigns.
In this role, he’s an advocate for students, staff members, and community members, but he also encourages those around him to speak up and see change happen for themselves. “I see my secret weapon as listening, and I can advocate on your behalf, or I can give you a platform and a space to speak for yourself,” Ian says. “The most rewarding and fulfilling part has been to see people trust me with their stories.”
Ian sees Mason as a unique and special place to live, work, and get an education, and he wants to be part of Mason achieving its full potential.
“I love how we come together in this community,” says Ian. “We struggle, we succeed, and we celebrate together. It feels like you really know everyone here.” MasonOhioSchools.com