Dave Hataj, President, Edgerton Gear

DAVE HATAJ is the second-generation president and owner of Edgerton Gear, Inc., a Wisconsin-based custom gear manufacturer, where has worked for over 30 years. As a journeyman machinist by age twenty-one, he then earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California-Irvine. He completed his master’s thesis of Systems Theory and Family Business from Regent College in Vancouver, BC. In 2014 he earned a Doctorate of Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University, developing a curriculum called Craftsman with Character. The course introduces high school students to the trades and manufacturing as an excellent career path, while developing character and soft skills. (https://www.craftsmanwithcharacter.org/) He is the author of Good Work: How Blue Collar Business Can Change Lives, Communities, and the World. (Moody Publishers April 2020)