Innovators and Influencers
SHOT Business honors ten leaders in the shooting sports industry.
Profiles compiled by Slaton L. White
Will Primos
The electrifying sound of a crackling gobble an instant after the striker hits the slate. The sight of the morning’s first rays hitting cupped feathers as a flock of greenheads make their final approach. The feel of every hair on your body standing at attention all at once when a bull bugles 25 yards in front of you. The smell of dried leaves and freshly cut alfalfa as you sit in a tree stand and watch the world spin rapidly on.
If you’re familiar with these sights, sounds, smells, and feelings, then you know what it is to be in the field. And if you know that, then chances are good that, at one time or another, Primos has been out there with you. That’s not just nostalgia, that’s legacy. And that’s exactly what Primos is highlighting this year as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Like many iconic companies, Primos started from very humble beginnings. A passionate hunter and outdoorsman, young Will Primos carved his first duck call when he was 11 years old. When he started turkey hunting some years later, Will set out to create a diaphragm call that could replicate the sounds of the turkeys he was chasing. He studied other calls on the market to see what worked well and what could be improved upon, and he incorporated all that knowledge into the mouth calls he made.
In the small Mississippi community he lived in, it didn’t take long for word to spread, and when it did demand for Primos’ calls started to skyrocket. Fifty years later, the company is still going strong.
But maybe the most important contribution Will Primos has made to the shooting sports industry is his unwavering commitment to conservation. The brand has been part of national conservation organizations from early on, and it continues to play a role with them today. Will Primos has partnered with five of the nation’s leading conservation groups—Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation—to highlight and support their efforts to protect the natural habitat that wildlife needs to survive and flourish.
Julie Golob
Julie Golob thrives on competition. She has earned more than 175 championship shooting titles in seven different action-shooting disciplines, making her one of the top all-time professional shooters in the world.
Golob started shooting as a young girl. By the time she was 16, she had competed in her first national championship. This ultimately led to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. Shooting for the Army’s Shooting Team gave her the opportunity to win her first national and world titles in action-shooting sports, which in turn opened the door to a career in the firearms industry.
Today, Golob represents Springfield Armory, Federal Ammunition, Trijicon, CCW Safe, and PHLster on the range and beyond. As a brand ambassador for these top-tier companies, she loves sharing guns, gear, and shooting sports with people from all walks of life. She said she’s had the opportunity to work with some of our industry’s most iconic brands, and she treasures the long-time relationships she has developed over the years. Like the people who enjoy shooting sports, she has said that this industry is unique in how even competitors are still united by the appreciation and desire for freedom.
Golob prioritizes welcoming, encouraging, and supporting women of all ages who want to learn to shoot and might possibly consider a career in the firearms industry. She finds sharing what she’s learned along the way very rewarding, whether that’s through a video that dives into detail on useful features, relaying an experience at a competition or convention or on social media, or as an author writing about firearm safety, shooting sports, or her newest project, concealed carry.
John Bailey
John Bailey, vice president of marketing for EOTECH, started with the company in 2003 when it was an unknown brand and the holographic weapon sight was in its infancy. Over the years he has worked in customer service, sales, product development, and eventually marketing, positions in which he was able to see the company continue to grow. Today the EOTECH brand is one of the most recognizable brands in the firearms industry.
A leader in electro-optics technology, its product lines include magnified scopes, micro red dots, night-vision and thermal systems, and on-gun laser devices. Recently, it entered the suppressor market.
“A long-standing goal of EOTECH is to ‘own the gun,’” he says. This means producing a plethora of products that help the firearm and user perform better. We have done that with optics—including CQB, long-range, night-vision, and IR. Suppressors were an obvious next step and with the increased demand due to the removal of the tax stamp, we wanted to develop quality suppressors that improve and enhance a user’s shooting experience.”
He also says one of the things he enjoys most is “seeing the look on people’s faces when they first use our products; you can see the lightbulb turn on and their eyes light up. You can also immediately see the excitement. For me, that never gets old.”
Claudia Chisolm
Claudia Chisolm is a dedicated leader and advocate within the women’s personal defense space, serving as the driving force behind the growth and innovation of Gun Tote’n Mamas (GTM), a pioneer and leader in off-body firearm carry. With a passion for empowering women to confidently exercise their Second Amendment rights, she plays a key role in shaping the brand’s mission of blending fashion with function to create serious protection for women.
Under her leadership, award-winning GTM continues to provide high-quality concealed carry handbags and accessories designed specifically for women who refuse to compromise on style, safety, or performance. Chisolm is committed to educating and equipping women with practical solutions for everyday carry, ensuring they feel prepared and protected in every environment.
Chisolm built her career in both retail and the luggage industry, where she learned about product design, leather quality, sustainable sourcing, and products that are made to last. Her dedication to innovation, customer connection, and responsible firearm ownership has helped position Gun Tote’n Mamas as a trusted name in the women’s concealed carry market.
GTM handbags are specifically designed around safe firearm orientation with dedicated compartments, reinforced construction, and separation from everyday items.
“There is a strong need for this product in the market, but an even stronger need for safe education,” she says. “GTM understands the importance of safe off-body firearm carry. Safety is engineered into every product; it’s not an afterthought.”
Tom Willingham
Sometimes appalling customer service becomes the catalyst for the creation of a first-rate operation. Tom Willingham, president of Range USA, was a real estate appraiser when he entered a gun store to buy his first firearm. He bought a handgun despite the dripping condescension of the sales clerk. But the experience immediately got worse when he went to an indoor range to shoot his new purchase. The operation was unkempt and the owner was a man with an ill temper. On the way home he told himself there had to be a better way.
And thus was born Range USA. His main goal was to create a mainstream gun shop experience that was something completely different from what he’d been through. “That meant a store that’s well-lit and clean, with staff who are properly trained and treat every customer with respect,” he says. “It’s a simple but powerful concept, and it opened the door for people who had a real interest in learning about firearm ownership, but felt too intimidated to walk into a traditional gun shop.”
The idea had real legs, as Range USA is now the nation's largest indoor gun range and firearm retailer. Since the opening of its first location in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2012, Range USA has now expanded to 50 locations and is proud of its commitment to responsible gun ownership through safe, welcoming environments.
Nathan Robinson
Nathan Robinson, marketing manager at Winchester, is an industry veteran who has spent the last 20-plus years working in a variety of roles, including customer service and supply chain, sales, licensing, and for the last decade overseeing a team responsible for Winchester’s media relations, retail marketing, event marketing, and corporate partnerships.
“There’s a popular saying that ‘if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,’ which has always resonated with me,” he says. “I certainly work my tail off every day, but that work is to promote products and a way of life that are incredibly important to me. My goal isn’t just to help Winchester succeed, but to see others drawn into a lifestyle that I think will positively affect their lives. At work, or at home, I find fulfillment in pursuing adventure alongside others in the outdoors.”
On reason for Winchester’s continued success is how it meets the expectations of its customers. “The most important step is to stop and listen and understand those expectations,” Robinson says. “The team responsible for our products at Winchester not only is actively engaged with our consumers through trade shows, shooting events, and online, but we are also Winchester consumers. We understand what they need because we are in the field having the same experiences, and it directly impacts the decisions made about product innovation and quality.”
Chad Weister
There used to be an adage that said you can have quality or you can have quantity—but you can’t have both. With the ability to craft high-quality gun barrels at almost any scale, however, Wisconsin-based Vortakt Barrel Works is changing that age-old-adage and giving gun manufacturers the quality they expect in a barrel and the quantity they need to keep up with market demand.
“Our goal is to meet our OEM clients where they’re at,” says Chad Weister, managing director at Vortakt. “We want to give them a high-quality barrel that’s made exactly to their specs, and we want to be able to give them the quantities they need—no matter how big.”
Vortakt can accomplish this mission because they don’t just implement new technology; they embrace it.
“Anywhere we can use technology to make a better barrel, we’re going to do it,” Weister says. “And because of automation, we can scale at a pretty incredible rate while maintaining a level of precision that’s unmatched.”
Vortakt designs most of its tooling in-house. Its engineers design custom solutions and work closely with tooling manufacturers to ensure the tools perform to the exact specifications required by each OEM. This collaboration allows Vortakt to configure its machines for unique applications while maintaining the efficiency and reliability required for high-volume production.
Between the latest machine technology, automation, and expert engineering and machinists, the result is a Vortakt barrel that performs exactly as designed.
“We’re really proud of what we do,” Weister says. “It’s always about the product first. We believe that if we make good barrels, success for the company will follow. And so far, that’s worked out well for us.”
Kristi Elrod
Great companies need great leadership. But finding great leaders can be a real challenge for many organizations. But what if, instead of searching in vain for leaders outside of your company, you could help develop the natural leaders that are already working for you? That’s where DRIVE. Organizational Solutions comes in.
Firearms industry veteran Kristi Elrod founded DRIVE. with the goal of helping companies develop leadership skills in their employees—especially women in male-dominated industries.
“Women working in the firearms and outdoors field are really passionate about the industry. They want to advance within the company they work for. They want to contribute more. They want to take on leadership responsibilities. But there are barriers that get in the way,” Elrod says. “I try to help them identify those barriers and how to overcome them.”
Elrod says that those barriers are very rarely insurmountable.
“Sometimes it’s something as simple as not having the confidence to speak up within a meeting or stepping in to resolve a conflict,” she says. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of stepping outside their comfort zone.”
Helping facilitate that concept is exactly what Elrod formed DRIVE. to do. Whether it’s providing seminars and workshops for women in your company to help expose them to leadership styles that will help make them more successful or working with individuals on a one-on-one basis, Elrod has developed programs that will help turn potential leaders into great leaders.
Elrod notes that it’s not just the women who benefit when they take on more leadership roles; it’s the entire company.
“By having more women in senior leadership positions, you get different perspectives, different ideas, and more diverse opinions, and that’s going to contribute to the financial success of any company,” Elrod says.
Elrod also notes another benefit to having women in senior leadership roles. “If a company has at least 15 percent women in senior management roles, it is 50 percent more profitable than companies that have less than 10 percent women in executive leadership roles.”
Steve Minneman
Steve Minneman is CEO of MTM Molded Products. Family owned and operated, MTM Molded Products Company is a plastic-injection-molding facility based in Dayton, Ohio. Its primary focus is developing products (marketed under the name MTM Case-Gard) for shooting-sports enthusiasts. Established in 1968, MTM began with a simple idea for storing ammo and currently offers a broad range of products specifically designed for the shooting sportsman. Products in the company’s current lineup include ammo boxes, shooting rests, rifle and handgun cases, gear crates, gun-maintenance components, and rifles rests, among others.
Minneman attributes the company’s success to a no-nonsense philosophy: “Make it simple; make it tough; make it affordable; make it here. If something breaks, we fix it. If something doesn’t work, we redesign it. We don’t hide behind fine print. Customers expect honesty, and that’s what they get.”
Minnemann believes the company stays ahead of its competition by “making sure engineering is first. Marketing is second. We own our molds. We control our materials. We test our products the way they’re actually used—not in a lab, but on a bench, in a truck, and at the range. When you do that long enough, you get pretty good at it. And we don’t forget who we are. Family business. Ohio roots. No shortcuts.”
Another factor: serious shooters still care about quality. “They want gear that works, and they want that gear to last,” he says. “They certainly don’t want something that needs to be replaced every season. I’m also seeing a growing group of younger shooters getting into the sport who appreciate American-made products, but only after you explain why these products are better.”
But what probably makes him happiest is “knowing that something we make here in Ohio is going to be used by a guy or gal at the range that afternoon—or handed down to their kid someday. This industry isn’t about trends. It’s all about function, trust, and tradition. We’re not chasing fads—we’re building products that the shooting enthusiast appreciates every day. That still means something to me.”
Angelo Brewer
Angelo Brewer is the director of operations and a founding member of iRayUSA, the U.S. distributor of Nocpix thermal products. Since entering the thermal imaging industry in 2007, he has worked across product development, sales, marketing, customer support, distribution, and operations, helping build one of the leading brands in the thermal hunting industry. His focus is advancing thermal technology and delivering a better customer experience through innovation, product development, and collaboration with customers, dealers, and manufacturing partners.
Thermal imaging is a red-hot segment these days as it experiences exponential growth. But such growth often creates challenges. “That growth is bringing more competition and continued pressure on pricing,” he says. “As technology becomes more accessible, it's getting easier for companies to enter the market, which means brands have to work harder to stand out. The companies that succeed will be the ones that continue to innovate, bring meaningful improvements to the customer, and back their products with strong value and after-sales support. The challenge for our industry is making sure growth doesn't come at the expense of the customer experience. That’s one of the opportunities we saw when we started iRayUSA, and it’s still a major focus today.”
As a key player in the market segment, Brewer has a first-row seat to the incredible pace of innovation. “Being able to see concepts for products that are still two SHOT Shows away from reaching the market is something I genuinely enjoy. Just as rewarding is seeing someone experience thermal imaging for the first time. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it never gets old. There’s always that moment when they look through the optic and immediately understand what thermal can do. Watching that realization happen is a big part of what keeps me passionate about this industry.”