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After 34 years in the industry—the past 16 with Winfield Consumer Products/Husky Liners—W.S. "Bill" Wagner is selling his stock and retiring from the company that he helped to grow since 1994.
He came to the aftermarket in 1976 from the corrugated packing industry, Tenneco's Packaging Corporation of America. Wagner started as a sales manager for Deflecta-Shield Corp., growing that "Big Shield" company from a little more than $750,000 in sales to in excess of $28 million before seeing the parent company (DFM Corp.—owners of Deflecta-Shield, Foam Molding and White Custom Cabinets—of which Wagner became vice president of sales and marketing) sold to Durakon Industries in 1987 and later to Lund Industries.
After becoming a marketing consultant in 1988, he worked for such companies as Auto VentShade and EGR Inc., developing sales and marketing programs. Moving into lifted off-road vehicles during his time as vice president of sales and marketing with TrailMaster Suspension and later as a sales and marketing consultant with Rugged Trail, he used his knowledge of the aftermarket and sales to expand their sales and marketing programs. Returning to what he loved—the sales and marketing of plastic products—Wagner met Bob Tyler in 1994 and eventually bought into the company (Winfield Consumer Products/Husky Liners) that Tyler started.
Wagner served on the SEMA Board of Directors during the latter part of his career, serving on various committees, and also was SEMA Show chairman. Serving in the U.S. Army with the NATO forces in Europe during the late 1960s, Wagner is a proud vet who still wears a lapel flag on his suit.