#225: Jeff Berlin (Bridge Industries) — American Manufacturing, Permanent Capital, and Patiently Scaling an Industrial Platform

Jeff Berlin is the Founder and President of Bridge Industries & Chairman and CEO of TransTech Energy. Jeff’s journey spans from his early days at Parker Hannifin to helping grow Hawk Corporation from a $20 million single-plant business into a $200 million global operation, and ultimately to founding his own company, Bridge — an industrial holding company anchored by TransTech — that has quietly scaled into a multi-hundred-million-dollar enterprise based in Chagrin Falls.

In our conversation, we cover Jeff’s conviction in the importance of American manufacturing and how it shaped his career-long commitment to building enduring businesses; the creation of Bridge Industries and his intentional choice of a permanent holding-company model over traditional private equity; the more than 25-fold scaling of TransTech into a diversified industrial platform with over 700 employees, up from just 35 a decade earlier; and the lessons learned along the way — the resilience and philosophy that guide him, how to weather downturns, usefulness as a true measure of value and success, culture across companies, and much more.

00:00:00 - The Roots of American Manufacturing Belief
 00:07:35 - Formative Experiences in Leadership
 00:09:00 - Transformational Growth at Hawk
 00:11:55 - Resilience in Business
 00:13:10 - The Birth of Bridge
 00:14:14 - Understanding Industrial Holding Companies
 00:16:25 - Differentiation from Traditional Private Equity
 00:19:00 - The Journey of Bridge
 00:20:47 - Strategic Growth and Acquisitions
 00:27:31 - Managing Geographic Expansion
 00:30:01 - Introducing TransTech
 00:31:28 - Building Infrastructure for Energy Solutions
 00:35:59 - Strategic Growth and Acquisition Insights
 00:38:10 - The Importance of Vertical Integration
 00:42:51 - Cultural Dynamics in Business Integration
 00:43:43 - The State of American Manufacturing
 00:46:30 - Defining Success and Value Creation
 00:48:10 - Future Ambitions for Bridge and TransTech
 00:49:40 - Mentorship and Leadership Evolution
 00:51:22 - Understanding the Nature of Industrial Work
 00:54:40 - The Role of Infrastructure in Daily Life
 00:55:56 - Excitement for Future Challenges
 00:58:07 - Investing in Financial and IT Infrastructure
 00:59:52 - Automation and Its Implications
 01:01:53 - Guiding Wisdom and Philosophy
 01:02:51 - Renewable Natural Gas and Environmental Impact
 01:05:51 - Hidden Gem

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LINKS:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-berlin-9b156a12/
https://bridgeind.com/

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Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}