With all the recent turmoil in our industry we thought it was important for our customers and colleagues to know that we are still here for you and to even get to know our sales team just a little better than you may have done before. Therefore please find below some lighthearted information about our motley crew of a sales team that help represent Area Four Industries America and our brands, MILOS, Prolyte, Litec, EXE and Mobiltech Lifts!
Adrian Forbes-Black
Title and responsibilities?:
Vice-President – Sales & Marketing – I’m responsible for the sales & marketing of all the Area Four Industries America product lines in North America as well as the day-to-day operation of our Thousand Oaks, CA sales office and warehouse.
Which office are you based out of?:
Thousand Oaks, CA.
How long have you worked for Area Four Industries America?:
I joined back in November 2017. However I have been in the industry since 1993.
Where were you born?:
Birmingham, United Kingdom, however I’ve lived in the US since 2006 and I became a U.S. citizen last year.
What other industries have you worked in previously?:
I’m embarrassed to say that I actually left school at 16 and pretty much started work in this industry almost immediately with only a small spell at college in between. I did however always work for my parents who ran pubs for most of my childhood. Even when I started work at 17 (at Light & Sound Design) I was always doing just about everything that nobody else wanted to do so I’ve done pretty much everything you can imagine from driving, to packing boxes, to pulling and taping cable, all before I ever became a full-time “desk jockey”.
If you could interview anyone, living or dead, who would it be?:
My grandparents, especially my grandfather on my mom’s side. He did all sorts of crazy secret things during WWII when he was in the RAF and when he passed a lot of that information was lost with him.
Dog or Cat?:
Dog. Should I admit that I have five already?! Nothing against cats, I love all animals, just always had dogs.
What was your favorite toy as a child?:
Lego & anything Star Wars. Still is!
What other industry do you think you would be in if you weren’t working for Area Four Industries America?:
Probably the military or something like that I’m guessing. I was genuinely thinking of going down that path but fell into the job at Light & Sound Design & the rest as they say is history!
Military recruitment officers can contact Adrian via e-mail at
adrian.forbes-black@areafourindustries.us.
Douglas DeBusschere
Title and responsibilities?:
Sales Manager – I’m responsible for our sales to our western region customers. I mainly work on what we call our engineered sales, ones which may mean we need to do designs, drawings or something a little funky.
Which office are you based out of?:
Thousand Oaks, CA.
How long have you worked for Area Four Industries America?:
I joined at the end of 2017 just before we opened the CA warehouse in January 2018.
Where were you born?:
Southern California.
Give us one fact that your colleagues & customers probably don’t know about you?:
When I was younger I used to farm Walnuts!
What was the first gig you ever went to as a paying customer?:
Men At Work in 1983.
What ability do you wish you had learned but never did?:
To play the guitar.
How many different states or countries have you lived in?:
Two, California and Oregon.
What animal scares you?:
Venomous snakes!
Snake handlers can contact Douglas via e-mail at
douglas.debusschere@areafourindustries.us.
Gene Matera
Title and responsibilities?:
Sales Manager – I’m in charge of sales to our western region customers with a lot of my focus being on our resellers and system integrators.
Which office are you based out of?:
Thousand Oaks, CA.
How long have you worked for Area Four Industries America?:
I just had my three-year anniversary!
Where were you born?:
New York.
What other industries have you worked in previously?:
Food service packaging, restaurant equipment.
Who plays you in the movie of your life?:
Younger me, Matthew Broderick, as an adult, Al Pacino of course!
If you could interview anyone, living or dead, who would it be?:
Elvis Presley.
Dog or Cat?:
Dog.
What was your favorite toy as a child?:
The Evil Knievel Stunt Cycle!
Elvis Presley can contact Gene via e-mail at
gene.matera@areafourindustries.us.
Jenni Keeler
Title and responsibilities?:
Sales and Operations Manager – I’m responsible for our sales to our eastern region customers and I also manage the operational side of things for our Knoxville, TN sales office, warehouse and U.S. headquarters.
Which office are you based out of?:
Knoxville, TN.
How long have you worked for Area Four Industries America?:
Just over four years now.
Where were you born?:
Northern California.
What project has been your favorite to work on during that time?:
Just like an author or actor, it’s always the next one! Working with truss has a creative component. It’s always fun to see what the next project will bring.
What do you like to do to relax & take your mind off work?:
Choral singing, cooking, and taking care of my little farm with beehives, six goats and about two hundred chickens!
Where is the one place you would like to travel to after all this COVID chaos is over?:
The Mendocino woodlands – I miss my redwoods so much!
Favorite book?:
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. It’s a kids book from 1940’s about a little boy who rescues a dragon and gets to explore from the dragon’s back.
You can only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would that be?:
Sushi!
Sushi restaurants can contact Jenni via e-mail at
jenni.keeler@areafourindustries.us.
Keith Bohn
Title and responsibilities?:
Business Development Director – As the title suggests I direct our business development, however I also personally manage the sales of our latest product brand in the Area Four Industries group of companies, Prolyte.
Which office are you based out of?:
Technically the Knoxville, TN location, however I actually work from home in Dallas, TX, or I have at least since COVID started!
How long have you worked for Area Four Industries America?:
It will be two years a little later this year, however I was already working for Prolyte before the acquisition and I actually worked for Area Four Industries America’s sister company, TOMCAT, for seventeen years before all of that!
Where were you born?:
Missouri.
What other industries have you worked in previously?:
None, but was on the production side before TOMCAT, and a musician before that, but always in live entertainment.
Favorite movie?:
Too many to choose. Caddyshack? The Usual Suspects?
What advice would you wish you had been told, & followed, at 21?:
Stop wasting time and find something you are truly passionate about. Then invest 100% of your energy into that endeavor.
What animal scares you?:
Any that look at me like I’m a meal!
What other industry do you think you would be in if you weren’t working for Area Four Industries America?:
Likely still live event/entertainment industry in some technical capacity.
Other Kansas City Chief fans can commiserate with Keith via e-mail at
keith.bohn@areafourindustries.us.
We all look forward to working with you on your next project.
You know what.
We know how.
The Area Four Industries America sales team.