The IPD Award of Excellence was created in 2008 to honor a member of ASA’s IPD division for their commitment and work advancing the industrial mechanical PVF segment of the PHCP-PVF industry. This year’s award goes to Johnny Seder, former owner of Milwaukee Valve. 

In the video above ASA members such as Tom LaGuardia, VP sales & marketing at Milwaukee Valve, Rex Martin, chairmen at NIBCO and Rick Giannini, president and CEO of Milwaukee Valve congratulate Seder on the award.

Seder, whose father purchased 119-year-old Milwaukee Valve in 1959 with late partner Max Koenigsberg, started with the company in June 1972 in an immediate sales role for after teaching high school in Chicago for two years. Seder’s efforts over the years helped Milwaukee Valve, which was purchased by NIBCO late last year, blossom into a company that now manufactures more than 7,500 products out of four locations (two in China, two in the United States) and employs 600 people worldwide. Seder’s sister, Diane, served as Milwaukee’s chairman of the board up until the sale to NIBCO.

“First and foremost, I am proud of the fact we helped build an industry with our products and those products performed well and protected people,” Seder says. “I’m proud of what my dad put in place, and I’m proud of the fact we outworked everybody to build a world-class organization. We did it with integrity.”

Seder says he learned plenty from his father. “He taught us hard work pays off and that we employ families and not people,” he says. “If you worked hard, you had a job for life around here. My dad also had a think-big mentality. I took that same mold that Milwaukee Valve was vital and we mattered, even if the sales sometimes told us something different. You never say never.”