Diamond Builders LLC Advisory Council
Mr. Brown, a native North Carolinian, is a 1972 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he served in the United States Navy as a Supply Corps Officer from 1972 to 1975 aboard the USS Franklin D Roosevelt (CVA-42) as the data processing officer.
In 1977, Mr. Brown completed his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business Administration at Duke University and subsequently joined Cooper Industries' hand tool group. His next assignment with Cooper Industries was with new acquisition, Gardner-Denver, in Grand Haven, Michigan as the Planning Manager. Mr. Brown left Cooper Industries in 1982 to take a position as Manager, Financial Analysis with Baker Perkins, Inc in Saginaw, Michigan. In 1985, Mr. Brown was promoted to VP Finance of the international Chemical Machinery Group of APV Baker Perkins where he directed the financial reporting and manufacturing systems development of six divisions in Michigan, New Jersey, Scotland, England and France. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Brown worked for AVX Kyocera in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Mr. Brown joined Aetna Industries, Inc., a privately held $430 million manufacturer of automotive stampings and welded assemblies, in 1992 as the automobile industry was beginning a major recovery. As the Executive Director of the Aetna Production System, Mr. Brown directed a two-year project which completely re-shaped the tools people at Aetna used to conduct business. Building around an integrated set of manufacturing and financial modules and focusing on lean manufacturing techniques, the APS includes automotive EDI input to a sales forecasting program, a payroll/HR package plus a custom-developed inventory transaction system that improved inventory unit accuracy from 40% to 98%. The result provided users with instant access to reliable on-line, real-time data for order processing, production scheduling, inventory management and financial reporting and analysis. In a 1995 review by CFO Magazine for the publication's REACH Awards, the project was judged to be a finalist in two areas: financial controls and information management systems.
By 1999, Aetna Industries, Inc had merged with Sofedit SA, a major European automotive supplier headquartered near Paris, to form the $1.0 billion Trianon Industries Corp. Trianon was one of the top four Tier 1 automotive suppliers of stamped parts and welded assemblies in the world.
Since 2001, Mr. Brown has been providing financial consulting services to small and mid-cap companies in areas such as cash management, activity based cost systems, private investment and commercial credit contacts and ERP systems enhancements and implementations.
Mr. Brown was introduced to Active Homes LLC in late 2001. In the process of upgrading this $15 million home builder's financial systems, he obtained his Michigan and South Carolina builder's licenses and completed his first home-building project in 2003. In April 2005, Mr Brown formed Diamond Builders LLC with the intent to build houses in the South Carolina Upstate area (Greenville-Spartanburg). His focus has been on houses in the 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft size range with basement foundation systems. To that end, Mr Brown has used Superior Wall basement foundation systems exclusively in the construction of semi-finished lower level living areas (heated/cooled, insulated and drywalled, full electrical and pre-plumbed for a bath, egress compliant or walk-out and mechanical rooms for HVAC and hot water equipment) nearly equal to the main floor living spaces. The value proposition to including livable floor space in the otherwise uninhabitable foundation is huge. Only a few homes in this size range in the SC Upstate have this very affordable option. Mr. Brown is a past member of the Spartanburg Home Builders Association and actively supports the HBA whenever possible.
