The National Fastener Distributors Association named Jim Ruetz as the 2018 recipient of its Fastener Professional of the Year award.

Ruetz has spent more than 40 years in the OEM fastener and industrial MROP distribution markets. He began working full time in the family business, All Tool Sales, in 1978, putting together the company’s first catalog and tying it into the customer direct order entry system. In 1980, the company separated its fledgling fastener sales into All Fasteners, and for the next seven years, Jim served dual roles as All Tools marketing and IT manager, as well as general manager and sales for the new fastener division.

“I really enjoyed the challenges of wearing a number of different hats as we grew,” Ruetz recalled.  

But in 1989, he began focusing on All Fasteners and developing the OEM VMI business. By the mid-‘90s All Fasteners was predominately an OEM distributor with VMI.

In 2013, the Ruetz family sold All Tool Sales and All Fasteners to Highroad Capital Partners, which had acquired Accurate Components a year earlier. In 2015, Ruetz took the CEO role for the companies and merged Accurate Components and All Tool/All Fasteners to form All Integrated Solutions.

The next year HRCP acquired Great Lakes Fasteners. AIS now consists of three divisions in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. The AIS group also operates distribution centers in North Dakota, Iowa, Michigan and Indiana. Today, AIS combines management of OEM fasteners with production MRO management and assembly tools to be one of the few distribution companies with the expertise in all three areas.

The Fastener Professional of the Year award was created by NFDA in 2017 to honor individuals and companies that make a substantial positive impact on people’s lives. The inaugural award was presented to Robbie Gilchrist of Capital Marketing.

In nominating Ruetz, Robert Ward of IFE Americans said: “Jim has been a giant in the fastener industry. He is a long time NFDA member and has been a great leader in the association and in his company, taking All Fasteners through tremendous growth and transitioning it to private equity ownership to become AIS. Jim has been a mentor and a role model to many in the fastener industry.”

In May 2018 AIS was sold to MSC Industrial Supply Company, a $3 billion North American leader in metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations products and services. AIS operates as a stand-alone OEM division of MSC.

Jim holds a bachelors in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, an associate of science in oceanographic technologies from the University of Florida Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Reutz was the 2001 NFDA president and on the board from 1998-2001. He was on Central States Industrial Distributors Association’s board from 1986-1988; president of the Wisconsin Industrial Distributors Association for 1984; third district alderman for the City of Oak Creek, WI, from 2012 to 2015; and since 2016 an adjunct professor at Carthage College.

Ruetz has logged more than 40,000 miles in the past seven years on motorcycles, including raising $30,000 with some of his rides dedicated to the Cure Duchenne muscular dystrophy charity.

Ruetz and his spouse, Karen Ruetz, have a daughter, Jennifer Ruetz, who is AIS director of marketing and was on the NFDA board from 2015-2018. Their son, Jason Ruetz, works for Harley-Davidson.

The award will be presented during the NFDA/Mid-West Fastener Association/Pacific-West Fastener Association joint meeting in San Diego, March 14-16, 2019.

Nominations for the next Fastener Professional of the Year award will be open in January 2019.  Web: nfda-fastener.org