Christophe Boucherie
Christophe Boucherie serves as general manager of Rhombus SAS, a Colson Group brand in France and the oldest industrial manufacturer of wheels and castors in Europe. With more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in international sales management, business development, and product management.
Boucherie joined Colson Group USA in 1985 and held a number of positions of increasing responsibility. Prior to his most recent role as general manager, he helped implement Colson Italy, focusing on developing business in southern Europe and leading sales activities in international locations such as France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Maghreb. In 2011, he helped develop Shepherd France. In 2009, when Colson acquired Rhombus SAS, Boucherie helped to develop the business and operations and doubled sales turnover in less than 10 years. He was promoted to sales director, was appointed general manager in 1993, and became a sales representative for southeast France in 1989. In 1985, Boucherie joined Colson Group USA as a purchaser, where his responsibilities included setting up supplier services and developing product ranges in Italy and Asia.
Prior to joining Colson, Boucherie served at Credit Agricole Consumer Finance, a consumer credit provider in Europe, as a futures manager.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economy and mathematics at Paris Nanterre University.
Gabriel J. Gonzalez
Gabriel J. Gonzalez has served as a general manager of Colson Group- IMSA since November 1990. With 35 years in the manufacturing industry, he specializes in product and process design, plant administration, product costing, and sales.
Gonzalez joined Colson Group-IMSA in March 1988 as a project engineer focusing on design, installation and startup of a complete pneumatic industrial wheels manufacturing line. Prior to Colson- IMSA, Gonzalez served as a process engineer at Dana Corporation, where he was a company leader in auto parts and engine components manufacturing at the Medellin, Colombia, facility. His role also consisted of aluminum piston design and piston plant management.
Gonzalez serves on the board of directors of the Medellin, Colombia, Convention Center and various volunteer groups. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from The Pontificia University in Medellin, Colombia, and a Master of Science degree from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California.
Tom Blashill
Tom Blashill serves as chief executive officer of Colson Group Holdings, Inc., the largest manufacturer and distributor of caster and wheel products in the world. Since 2013, Blashill has led the Colson team through the transformation of businesses previously managed separately into an integrated global company. He brings more than 25 years of executive experience to the company.
Prior to joining Colson Group, Blashill served since 2009 as president of the Marley Engineered Products and Weil-McLain divisions of SPX Corp. in Burr Ridge, IL. In that role he integrated the two businesses within the HVAC market, improved the manufacturing and supply chain and implemented innovative product strategies to drive profitable growth. He was also president of SPX Corp.’s Filtran unit in Des Plaines, IL where he was responsible for the global business supplying automatic automotive transmission manufacturers throughout the automotive industry. During this time, Filtran opened a new manufacturing facility in Beijing China for supply to the local OEM transmission manufacturers and well for export of OEM product to Japan.
Blashill earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan and earned a Master of Business Administration in finance from the University of Chicago.
Dennis E. Jones
Dennis E. Jones is Colson Group’s vice president of global product engineering, bringing more than 33 years of manufacturing-based experience to the company. In this role, Jones specializes in advancing Colson Group’s global technology and new product development process.
Prior to his current role with the company, Jones served as the vice president of operations for Colson Group USA under the One Colson initiative from 2012 to 2014. He began his career in the caster and wheel industry in 1994, when he joined St. Joseph, Michigan-based Shepherd Caster Corp. as the director of operations. He was later promoted to vice president of sales and marketing in 1998 and advanced to president of the company in 2001.
Before joining the caster industry, Jones served as manager of manufacturing engineering from 1984 until 1994 at Detroit Steel Products, a Tier 1 automotive supplier to the medium- and heavy-truck industry in Morristown, Indiana. In this role, he oversaw all aspects of the manufacturing engineering support group, including machine and plant automation, industrial engineering, tooling engineering and management of a three-shift maintenance and tool room crew.
Jones has been active with the Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce in St. Joseph, Michigan, where he was named Entrepreneur of the Year – Manufacturing Sector in 2009 and was recognized by the State of Michigan for his work at Shepherd Caster Corp. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.