Leadership

Mike Gaby was named President and CEO of Pennant Group International, Inc. in February of 2009. Since that time, he has led Pennant through a period of vibrant growth, acquisition and geographical expansion that has increased the size of the company sevenfold. Mr. Gaby brought to Pennant a core belief of creating a dynamic corporate culture with a laser focus on customer satisfaction along with operational discipline. This philosophy has paid dividends for Pennant by building a foundation of like-minded customers who want to partner and flourish with Pennant. Mr. Gaby has over 30 years’ experience in finance, sales and marketing, operations and executive management. He is a graduate of Miami University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

J. Chris Highfield joined the Company in May of 2023 serving in the role as President. Prior to joining Pennant, Chris served in various C-Suite leadership positions, most recently serving as the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for CORE Molding Technologies, a publicly traded provider of thermoset and thermoplastic products. Prior to joining CORE, Mr. Highfield was employed by American Trim, a Tier 1 supplier of decorated metal products serving the appliance, automotive, heavy truck and industrial marketplace, from 2002 to 2015. He joined American Trim as the Director of Truck & Bus Products, and held several positions of increasing responsibility, advancing to the senior leader of the Sales & Marketing organization. Prior to American Trim, Mr. Highfield held various director, general manager and commercial leadership positions with top Tier 1 providers in the agriculture, appliance, automotive, lawn & garden, heavy truck, industrial and outdoor power markets. Mr. Highfield earned his MBA with a concentration in Operations & Finance from Cedarville University and his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Wittenberg University. His focus is establishing strategic focus and direction while promoting employee engagement and development, enhancing customer satisfaction and driving P&L performance.

Jeff Blind is an experienced financial officer who collaborates well across the organization to assist in setting business strategies, reporting and understanding business results, identifying opportunities to grow the business, improve processes and operational results and protect the assets of the company.

He enjoys and is effective in working as part of a leadership team to help maximize company performance. One of his strengths is working with people at all levels of the organization.

His experience with a large global hi-tech manufacturing and service organization and with a Big 4 public accounting firm has exposed him to many different businesses and allowed him to gain valuable experience in various aspects of business. Mr. Blind has had the opportunity to provide leadership to large groups of associates and has extensive experience in Planning and Budgeting, Reporting and Analysis, Executive level presentations, Cross functional collaboration to identify growth and cost containment opportunities, Streamline business systems and processes and Business acquisitions and integration. He is a graduate of Ohio University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.

Kathy Rupp has been with Pennant Group International, Inc. for over 17 years. She has had various roles in the company over her tenure, including roles in both operations, supply chain and purchasing. She brings over 35 years purchasing experience in metals to Pennant, along with a strong background in manufacturing software systems analysis.

Nick Laney became the Pioneer, Ohio Plant Manager in 2018 and is currently our Director of Business Operations (Midwest). Prior to joining Pennant Group International, Inc., Nick held several management roles, including Engineering Manager. Nick brings over 15 years of management experience in several different industries including the steel industry and composites.  His managing style focuses on building a core team and expanding that to each one of his team members and bringing everyone together to ensure they do what is right for the customer and go beyond their expectations.

Marc Evans started with Pennant Group International, Inc. in April 2023.  Mr. Evans has several years of manufacturing experience from various roles including Quality Technician, Manufacturing Engineer, Plant Manager and VP of Manufacturing and several years of his work life have been involved in metal stamping.  He holds his BS in Industrial Management with an emphasis in engineering from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.  In addition, he has been certified in the Toyota Production System.