Host Ed Sutkowski talks with John B. Wahlfeld an historian, businessman, and financial development officer.

In June of 1968, John received a Bachelor’s Degree from Principia College, was drafted and served from 1968 to 1972 in the U.S. Army and received his Master’s in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1974. Given the untimely passing of his father, John, together with his cousin, Ted, co-managed Wahlfeld Manufacturing Company, a Peoria-based, 106-year old family business with more than $25 million in gross sales. The company sold and marketed building materials and products to lumber dealers and home centers throughout Illinois and Eastern Iowa. Given the economic downturn, the family sold the assets of the company to a New York Stock Exchange organization. After the sale, John became a Major Gifts, Financial Development Officer of the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross. John has been a member of more than nine community organizations, eight industry organizations and has participated in more than eight continuing education programs. His experiences span three distinct categories: the academic; the entrepreneurial and the charitable.