Jim Hene is the Founder and President of pdblowers, Inc. He has overseen the company’s direction since 1990. His partner, John Mattick, joined the business in 1993. Jim continues to direct the company’s team of application engineers, drawing from more than thirty-five years of extensive experience in the mechanical equipment industry.
Prior to pdblowers, in college as an engineering student, Jim had had a clear vision for his life’s work—as an entrepreneur presenting engineered systems, combined with a deep understanding of the way things work. After graduation, he specialized with large-scale rotating equipment working with Dresser Clark, followed by smaller-scale application engineering with Sundstrand Fluid Handling. In a pivotal moment, Jim switched gears to the sales side of business, taking a job with Dresser Roots—a preeminent blower equipment manufacturer. After five years as a sales representative based out of Atlanta, Jim struck out to start his own business, Rotating Engineered Products, which became pdblowers, Inc. Though he had intended to build a sales agency, market shifts opened the path to distribution and manufacturing.
Over twenty-five years of gradual service improvements—from packaging and electrical design to assembly and fabrication—the company has grown into an innovative resource to meet customer needs. Today, pdblowers, Inc. is the leading distributor and service provider for positive displacement blowers and vacuum pumps in the U.S.—with a growing manufacturing arm for building industrial equipment systems. About their expansion of pdblowers, Inc, Jim and his partner John observe that they’ve had a very expensive education over the years—and it’s been a lot of fun.
Jim holds a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He is an avid swimmer and, together with his wife, has raised 5 children.