Company News

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PLANT MANAGER

Jesus Ponce, our Plant Manager and Chief Purchasing Officer, has over 34 years of experience in the Fitness Industry.  Since joining the California Gym Equipment Company in 1984 as a polisher and janitor, Mr. Ponce has held numerous positions in machining, equipment assembly, logistics, material purchasing, and production management.

After proving his value as an equipment polisher, Mr. Ponce was promoted to the CalGym machine shop, then again to the assembly department.  In 1987, Mr. Ponce was promoted to Assembly Foreman, responsible for directing and troubleshooting common assembly issues.  Mr. Ponce’s colleagues quickly recognized his ability to solve problems, and by 1993 he was assigned a team of 18 employees to focus exclusively on commercial product manufacturing.

In 2003, Mr. Ponce rose to be Plant Manager and Chief Purchasing Officer, overseeing TuffStuff’s entire manufacturing process.  For the past 15 years Mr. Ponce has been responsible for purchasing raw materials, managing lead times, overseeing freight and shipping, supervising manufacturing and assembly teams, and maintaining TuffStuff’s inventory.  Under his leadership, TuffStuff has remained one of the largest full-service fitness manufacturers in America, crafting the world’s finest fitness equipment with remarkable turn-around times.

HEAD OF RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Kenneth “Kenny” Carter, our Head of Research and Development, has close to four decades of experience in the fitness industry.  In partnership with Sherman Grider, Kenny helped to pioneer the design and engineering systems behind numerous strength equipment innovations and patents, and is responsible for many of the fitness industry’s current standards for strength equipment quality, form, and function.

In 1983, Kenny Carter started his career with California Gym Equipment Company cutting, drilling, welding, and polishing strength equipment.  Kenny’s innate understanding of engineering blended well with the visions of the company’s CEO, Sherman Grider.  Together they worked through numerous prototypes and designs to make strength equipment more dynamic, user-friendly, appealing and effective.  By the end of that year, California Gym Equipment become the first company to introduce the Pec Dec attachment on a home gym.

Over the next 30+ years, Kenny Carter lead the engineering behind many of TuffStuff’s iconic products and features.  Including the development of new home gym attachment stations and capabilities, intricate cable and pulley systems, adjustable cams with pull-pins, multi-stack and modular equipment series, variable weight resistance machines, and space-efficient equipment designs (including corner units with small footprints)

Today, Kenny continues to innovate and enhance the form and function of TuffStuff’s products.  His latest engineering contribution includes following through with Sherman Grider’s final vision, to create the very first resistance machines to incorporate multi-planar linear arc movement.  Three years in the making, the end result is TuffStuff’s patented Bio-Arc Strength Series, which keeps the user’s entire body moving along a linear arc trajectory with each machine to optimize muscle recruitment.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Donny Penado, our Chief Operating Officer, has close to three decades of experience in the fitness industry.  Having held nearly every position available at TuffStuff, Mr. Penado is intimately familiar with the company’s operations and personnel.

In 1988, Mr. Penado started his career as the company truck driver making local pickups for misc. parts, and cleaning the facility.  Early on, Mr. Penado’s tireless work ethic caught the attention of the company’s CEO, Sherman Grider, and he was promoted to Traffic Manager.  Then he left CalGym to be a part of Sherman’s new venture, Task Industries Inc., in 1989.

Under Sherman Grider’s mentorship, Mr. Penado learned to pick up on intricate production details and subsequently rose to be Plant Manager in 1993.  By making himself accessible and striving to understand and learn from fellow employees, Mr. Penado gained insight into each aspect of the company’s manufacturing process.  In 2006, Mr. Penado took over responsibility for all of TuffStuff’s daily operations as General Manager.  Today, as the C.O.O. he continues to emphasize TuffStuff’s core values and align the team to develop the highest quality strength equipment while providing exceptional customer service.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Cammie Grider, Chief Executive Officer, took full responsibility managing the company’s daily operations, resources and strategic direction after her husband and founder, Sherman Grider passed in 2016.  An educated woman and owner of her own business, Cammie lends her expertise to marketing and financial directions as well as new product developments and design improvements.  The success of TuffStuff’s continued domination in the fitness industry is credited to her willingness to meet customers’ specific needs and one-on-one personal relationship with our loyal customers.

Immediately after taking the helm, Cammie reinforced TuffStuff’s commitment to family and put in place numerous events and initiatives to create an open culture that encourages motivation and inspiration among the employees (a trademark largely attributable to Sherman Grider, founder).  Personal birthday cards, holiday raffles and office decorations, quarterly luncheons, and TuffStuff-branded apparel for all employees are a few of the steps to continue the “happy” working environment, administration or factory workers, all alike.  As part of her objectives, she has an open-door policy to invite all employees to talk to her regardless of subject matter.

Cammie continues her husband’s legacy of manufacturing the best strength equipment in America.  The fitness industry has changed drastically in the last fifteen years, where many fitness companies have taken all manufacturing overseas and are unable to produce the products they sell.  Cammie has promised to keep the “MADE IN AMERICA” theme alive as long as she is the CEO of this company.  The mission is clear, manufacturing more here at our facility in Chino, California!