Episode 160: Christina Keller

Christina Keller is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Cascade Engineering Family of Companies and a member of the board of directors. She assumed this position on September 1, 2018. Cascade Engineering is a family owned private business founded by her father, Fred Keller in 1973. As President and Chief Executive Officer for the Family of Companies, Christina is responsible for ensuring that Cascade Engineering continues its dedication to the community, accomplishes its purpose of being a Triple Bottom Line company and develops and executes Cascade’s strategic direction.

Most recently Christina served as President for the Cascade Business Team (CBT) from 2016 – 2018, overseeing five of Cascade’s nine businesses. These businesses included; Automotive Americas, Cascade Cart Solutions, Innovative Plastic Technologies, Noble Polymers and Decade Products. Christina also led the strategic integration of all Cascade Engineering’s North American operations, creating an alignment through best practices and standardized work to maximize operational, financial and human resources.

In 2013, Christina was named President of CK Technologies (CKT). CKT is the largest CE business unit headquartered in Montpelier, OH, with additional facilities in Mount Airy, NC, Brownsville and Grand Prairie, Texas. CKT manufactures large plastic exterior body components for large trucks. Parts include bumper systems, grills, chassis and roof fairings used on class 8 tractors. CKT offers over 10,000 colors with parts painted in-line sequence. Christina was also selected to participate as a member of Navistar’s supplier council. During her tenure CKT recorded two consecutive years of record revenue.

Christina has held a number of leadership positions of increasing responsibility since joining Cascade in 2009. From 2010 – 2013 she was the business unit leader for Triple Quest, which produced and distributed the Hydraid filter. A simple, low-tech bio-sand water filter that requires no maintenance – as a reliable means to deliver clean water. Over 75,000 Hydraid filters were distributed to 46 countries before the business was acquired by Native Energy in 2015. CE still manufactures the filter housing for Native Energy.

Previous to joining Cascade Engineering, Keller lived in New York, NY employed as a manager at Polaris Management Partners. Christina received her MBA from the SC Johnson College of Business in 2007 and also holds a BA from Boston College. She has accreditation in Economics from American University and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Villanova University.

Christina is a member of the board of directors for Independent Bank (IBCP). Serves on the board of trustees and is the former chair at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. Keller is a member of the Grand Angels investment group as well as being active in the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and the Family Business Alliance (FBA). Christina was recognized in Plastics News as a “Rising Star” and the Grand Rapids Business Journal has twice named her as a “40 under 40” business leader to watch. Christina resides in Ada, Michigan with her husband Andy and their two children Aspen and Jackson.