Visionaries like John Crean and John Hanson were laying the groundwork and establishing the rules on how to build a successful company that respected employees, build quality products, and established lifetime relationships with customers.

Jump back to the early days of television, and Bud Collyer's famous To Tell the Truth television program -- a popular black and white show in prime time. It was state-of-the-art television for its time.

In the original television series, there would be three contestants who would be asked a series of questions from three panelists. The objective was to identify the real person, and subject of the questioning.

At the end, the moderator would simple ask; "Will the real . . . . . . . . . .please stand up."

Now we have our own version of this popular television show unfolding right before our eyes in the RV industry.

Fast forward to the 90's and try to comprehend the changes we have seen in both the television industry and the RV industry.

Now let's play To Tell the Truth . . . the 21st Century version.

Will the real Dick Parks please stand up.

Successful people have many events throughout their lives that shape their future and cast a legacy that will be remembered long after they leave us.

We have the Dick Parks who spent seventeen years at the largest publicly held RV and manufactured housing company. This Dick Parks rose from production management trainee to Senior VP of the Fleetwood RV group, before his dismissal during financially challenging times for the industry giant.

This Dick Parks rose to the executive suite of a company driven by stock prices, shareholder value, and rapid growth. This was a company that had a dramatically different make-up than that originally conceived by John Crean, when he founded Fleetwood as a privately held RV manufacturer.

And now we have the Dick Parks who has assumed the presidency of one of the most respected privately held companies in our industry. We interviewed this Dick Parks just three days after Virgil and Mahlon Miller (no relation) selected Parks to lead Newmar Corporation into the 21st Century of RV manufacturing. Virgil Miller has been elevated to chairman and was personally involved in the selection of his replacement.

There's a dramatic difference in the two worlds that RV executive Dick Parks has lived in, and they may not be as different as many people might think. Especially those who only knew the man from California who is now leading a much smaller company in Nappanee, Indiana.

This is rural small-town America, a setting that plays to a different drummer and could care less what happens in publicly-held companies that may be focused more on their financial results than the basic foundation that launched their success many years ago.

The Parks announcement was met with mixed reviews from industry insiders. Many only knew the Fleetwood Dick Parks, from corporate America.  

Many had no idea that Parks has roots that are closer to Nappanee than they ever were to California.