In their specialized corner of Silicon Valley’s high-tech hotbed, advanced machining firm KAD Models & Prototypes has been developing into a business to watch. But their latest move - locating KAD’s new satellite production facility in CEO Brian Kippen’s native Vermont - could prove to be their best yet.
KAD has become a go-to supplier for high-profile clients like Google, Apple, Tesla and others throughout Northern California’s booming aerospace, medical, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors. “We do silicone molding for medical devices, like replacement valves for heart surgery, ‘O’ rings and silicone parts for electronics, and low-volume production mold-making with urethane,” Brian says, providing just a partial list of KAD’s specialties. “But we can’t tell you what we create for Google or any of our clients. That’s confidential.”
However, he can tell you that KAD will “get our clients’ products to market faster: a two-week turnaround, versus our competitors’ twenty-week timeline.”
Brian seems always to have been laser-focused on this career. Moving to Northern California landed him a plum position at a prestigious design-build company. “Simultaneously, I did small prototype manufacturing and pre-production on my own.” He then worked on prototyping consumer electronics at a new firm, where he quickly advanced to Director of Operations. By 2012, Brian was ready to buy out the firm’s other partner and launch KAD, which stands for “Kippen and Dog,” a reference to Brian’s beloved canine “staffer” Atlas.
By 2019, KAD boasted roughly $1.5 million in sales. Brian was geared up for expansion and in search of a second facility. “You can only capture so much market when you’re in a single location,” he explains. Detroit and Philadelphia were under consideration.
“But then, I was back in Vermont for a friend’s 40th birthday and as I was driving up Route 14 in East Randolph, I saw it.” ‘It’ was the “For Sale” sign hanging in front of the 90-year-old, vacant L.W. Greenwood & Sons tractor manufacturing facility.
If hiring in the Bay Area was complicated by its sky-high cost of living, the Randolph area was more than affordable. And it was home to Vermont Technical College, with its newly-expanded advanced manufacturing program to provide a steady pool of qualified candidates. (Brian was also well-acquainted with Vermont’s lifestyle and many other assets.)
By the time Brian arrived back in California, the Vermont real estate agency and Randolph community officials had responded to his email inquiries about the property. “When I was trying to communicate with (officials in) Detroit, it took three months!” he says with a laugh.
Not long after, his purchase offer was accepted. Brian hoped the East Randolph facility would be operational in record time; all he needed was a loan to help get the facility online. But by now, the world was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Progress stalled. Production deadlines loomed.
“It was clear that we really needed to get some additional funding to get things going again,” Brian recalls. “We started talking to the Loan Fund.” Brian and KAD’s Chief Operating Officer & co-owner Kacie Merchand (also a native Vermonter) brought the Loan Fund into the mix of financial institutions. VCLF’s lending team was able to move forward quickly to get them the financing they needed to continue with the site’s environmental remediation, final equipment purchases, and everything else.
KAD’s first East Coast project was due days later. It was delivered on time.
With his Vermont facility now up and running, Brian anticipates hiring as many as 14 new programmers and machine operators over the next two years.
“None of this has been simple, but I couldn’t imagine being able to do this at all in California,” Brian says, crediting the greater Randolph community, the State of Vermont and the Vermont Community Loan Fund with pulling together, and pulling it off.
“It was a complicated timeline for a purchase. VCLF was very responsive to all the complications and really brought us peace of mind.” kadmodels.com
2021-to-Date Lending Surpasses 2020 Totals, Boosting VT Jobs, Businesses, Early Care & Learning Programs
Through April 30th, VCLF has loaned a total of $2,270,852 to Vermont’s small businesses, farms and early care & learning programs in 2021. Loan volume has already surpassed total 2020 lending in just the first four months of this year. In addition, the Loan Fund administered loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the federal CARES Act, to 16 Vermont enterprises. These most recent VCLF borrowers include:
Black Dirt Farm, Stannard
Since 2014, Tom Gilbert has owned and operated this 128-acre farm, which providing eggs, chicken, food scrap collection services and compost, worm castings, soil mix, produce and hay throughout Vermont. He’s using VCLF financing to complete the infrastructure for a new laying hen operation, including a new layer house, wash/pack house, fencing, and more. The loan preserves three full-time and five part-time jobs, with 17 new jobs anticipated by 2022. blackdirtfarm.com
Booska Worldwide Movers, Burlington
Established in 1946, Booska is a fourth-generation Vermont family business. Renting storage space in multiple locations throughout Chittenden County, they came to VCLF for help financing the purchase of a centralized facility to lower their overhead costs and streamline their delivery services. The loan preserves 35 full-time jobs, and is expected to create eight new ones. booskaworldwide.com
Cedar Sawmill of Vermont, Swanton
Cedar Sawmill of Vermont, a VCLF borrower since 2013, purchases whole logs from area loggers and custom mills them into rough cut lumber for businesses and consumers throughout the northeast. Owner Dave Rollo will use this most recent loan to purchase additional log inventory, to meet a recent jump in demand. The loan preserves one full-time job. cedarsawmillofvt.com
Darkwing Enterprises, Wolcott
Darkwing is a wholesaler of maple sap and an excavation business. With COVID depressing construction and excavation activity last year, owner Ronnie Leroux faced mounting credit card bills in order to upgrade his sugaring equipment. A VCLF loan helped provide relief until excavation work began to resume this spring. The loan preserves one full-time year-round job and four fulltime seasonal positions during peak sugaring season. darkwingent.com
Front Seat Coffee, Hardwick
Front Seat Coffee, a coffeehouse & bakery, shuttered in early 2020 due to COVID-19, eventually reopening for takeout only. Uncertain when he’d be able to welcome customers back inside safely, owner Tobin Porter imagined an additional ‘satellite’ operation. Serving coffee and baked goods out of a prefabricated, portable structure manufactured by Up End This (another VCLF borrower) surrounded by socially-distant outdoor seating would be safer for both customers and staff. This VCLF loan, covering purchase of the shed unit and bakery & coffee equipment, preserves one full-time job and four part-time jobs, with three new jobs expected to be created. frontseatcoffee.com
Joneslan Farm, Hyde Park
Joneslan Farm was started in 1872 by the great great grandparents of brothers and current owners Brian and Steven Jones. Facing declining revenues over the 26 years they’ve operated Joneslan, they’ve chosen to transition from cows to a goats milk dairy. Goats can be milked with less equipment, lower feed and supplies costs, and the milk can be sold at a much higher price point. VCLF financing will be used for barn renovations to accommodate the goats, some of which will be sourced from Miles Hooper, a Vermont goat dairy farmer and a VCLF borrower as well! The loan preserves two full-time and two part-time jobs, plus other seasonal positions. facebook.com/joneslanfarm
Lost Nation Brewing, Morrisville
With Lost Nation’s wholesale beer sales and their taproom business negatively impacted due to COVID, owners Allen Van Anda and Jamie Griffith approached VCLF for a loan through our Northern Vermont Recovery Loan Fund. The NVRLF loan was used to purchase a labeler for their growing canned beer product line, and a centrifuge which will increase yield. lostnationbrewing.com
Neck of the Woods, Waitsfield
For eight years, nonprofit early care & learning center Neck of the Woods operated out of the Moretown Elementary School. When the opportunity arose to move into a new location, rent-free, with a goal of purchasing the property at an advantageous price from community-focused owners, they came to VCLF for financing. The new location has allowed them to double their size from 38 to 76 children and families served, preserve ten full-time jobs, and add seven new full-time and ten new seasonal jobs. neckofthewoodsvt.com
Northern Reliability, Burlington
Northern Reliability, a VCLF borrower since 2016, installs solar and energy storage systems for utility companies and corporate clients. With sales on the rise, Northern Reliability requested to expand their VCLF line of credit. Financing preserves 21 Vermont jobs, with 10 new jobs anticipated. northernreliability.com
Tiny Dreamers in Early Childhood, Williston
Tiny Dreamers is a full-day, year-round licensed center, providing early care & learning to children and families in and around Chittenden County. Director Paula Nadeau came to VCLF for financing to purchase the program from its owner, allowing a seamless transition in both ownership and care for 26 children and families.. The loan preserves eight jobs. facebook.com/Tiny-Dreamers-in-Early-Childhood-LLC-701430309957886
Wilson Herb Farm, Greensboro
Brenden and Lindsay Beer, growers of organic culinary and medicinal herbs used in their value-added products, recently purchased a successful organic produce farm and farm stand. They came to VLCF to help finance farm stand renovations to add processing equipment, a septic system and customer parking. The loan preserves two full-time jobs, two seasonal jobs, with two additional full-time jobs anticipated. wilsonherbfarm.com
Since April of 2020, VCLF has participated in administering loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the federal CARES Act, to help cover payroll and other costs. In the first quarter of 2021, we administered PPP loans for:
• Salah Ali, Colchester
• Cowan Technologies, Williston
• Creative Discoveries Early Care & Education, Essex Jct.
• Corey D’Avignon, Orwell
• Far Post Soccer Club, Essex Jct.
• Fiddlers Green Inn, Stowe
• Fisher Brothers Farm, Shelburne
• Jason and Amber Hubner, Putney
• Herb Craft, Middlesex
• Jamaican Supreme, Winooski
• Law Office of Denise Bailey, Montpelier
• My Favorite Things Food Truck, Jeffersonville
• NU Chocolat, Burlington
• Pulmac Systems, Williston
• Roscioli Food Group, Williston
• What What Films, Winooski
In their specialized corner of Silicon Valley’s high-tech hotbed, advanced machining firm KAD Models & Prototypes has been developing into a business to watch. But their latest move - locating KAD’s new satellite production facility in CEO Brian Kippen’s native Vermont - could prove to be their best yet.
KAD has become a go-to supplier for high-profile clients like Google, Apple, Tesla and others throughout Northern California’s booming aerospace, medical, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors. “We do silicone molding for medical devices, like replacement valves for heart surgery, ‘O’ rings and silicone parts for electronics, and low-volume production mold-making with urethane,” Brian says, providing just a partial list of KAD’s specialties. “But we can’t tell you what we create for Google or any of our clients. That’s confidential.”
However, he can tell you that KAD will “get our clients’ products to market faster: a two-week turnaround, versus our competitors’ twenty-week timeline.”
Brian seems always to have been laser-focused on this career. Moving to Northern California landed him a plum position at a prestigious design-build company. “Simultaneously, I did small prototype manufacturing and pre-production on my own.” He then worked on prototyping consumer electronics at a new firm, where he quickly advanced to Director of Operations. By 2012, Brian was ready to buy out the firm’s other partner and launch KAD, which stands for “Kippen and Dog,” a reference to Brian’s beloved canine “staffer” Atlas.
By 2019, KAD boasted roughly $1.5 million in sales. Brian was geared up for expansion and in search of a second facility. “You can only capture so much market when you’re in a single location,” he explains. Detroit and Philadelphia were under consideration.
“But then, I was back in Vermont for a friend’s 40th birthday and as I was driving up Route 14 in East Randolph, I saw it.” ‘It’ was the “For Sale” sign hanging in front of the 90-year-old, vacant L.W. Greenwood & Sons tractor manufacturing facility.
If hiring in the Bay Area was complicated by its sky-high cost of living, the Randolph area was more than affordable. And it was home to Vermont Technical College, with its newly-expanded advanced manufacturing program to provide a steady pool of qualified candidates. (Brian was also well-acquainted with Vermont’s lifestyle and many other assets.)
By the time Brian arrived back in California, the Vermont real estate agency and Randolph community officials had responded to his email inquiries about the property. “When I was trying to communicate with (officials in) Detroit, it took three months!” he says with a laugh.
Not long after, his purchase offer was accepted. Brian hoped the East Randolph facility would be operational in record time; all he needed was a loan to help get the facility online. But by now, the world was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Progress stalled. Production deadlines loomed.
“It was clear that we really needed to get some additional funding to get things going again,” Brian recalls. “We started talking to the Loan Fund.” Brian and KAD’s Chief Operating Officer & co-owner Kacie Merchand (also a native Vermonter) brought the Loan Fund into the mix of financial institutions. VCLF’s lending team was able to move forward quickly to get them the financing they needed to continue with the site’s environmental remediation, final equipment purchases, and everything else.
KAD’s first East Coast project was due days later. It was delivered on time.
With his Vermont facility now up and running, Brian anticipates hiring as many as 14 new programmers and machine operators over the next two years.
“None of this has been simple, but I couldn’t imagine being able to do this at all in California,” Brian says, crediting the greater Randolph community, the State of Vermont and the Vermont Community Loan Fund with pulling together, and pulling it off.
“It was a complicated timeline for a purchase. VCLF was very responsive to all the complications and really brought us peace of mind.” kadmodels.com
2021-to-Date Lending Surpasses 2020 Totals, Boosting VT Jobs, Businesses, Early Care & Learning Programs
Through April 30th, VCLF has loaned a total of $2,270,852 to Vermont’s small businesses, farms and early care & learning programs in 2021. Loan volume has already surpassed total 2020 lending in just the first four months of this year. In addition, the Loan Fund administered loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the federal CARES Act, to 16 Vermont enterprises. These most recent VCLF borrowers include:
Black Dirt Farm, Stannard
Since 2014, Tom Gilbert has owned and operated this 128-acre farm, which providing eggs, chicken, food scrap collection services and compost, worm castings, soil mix, produce and hay throughout Vermont. He’s using VCLF financing to complete the infrastructure for a new laying hen operation, including a new layer house, wash/pack house, fencing, and more. The loan preserves three full-time and five part-time jobs, with 17 new jobs anticipated by 2022. blackdirtfarm.com
Booska Worldwide Movers, Burlington
Established in 1946, Booska is a fourth-generation Vermont family business. Renting storage space in multiple locations throughout Chittenden County, they came to VCLF for help financing the purchase of a centralized facility to lower their overhead costs and streamline their delivery services. The loan preserves 35 full-time jobs, and is expected to create eight new ones. booskaworldwide.com
Cedar Sawmill of Vermont, Swanton
Cedar Sawmill of Vermont, a VCLF borrower since 2013, purchases whole logs from area loggers and custom mills them into rough cut lumber for businesses and consumers throughout the northeast. Owner Dave Rollo will use this most recent loan to purchase additional log inventory, to meet a recent jump in demand. The loan preserves one full-time job. cedarsawmillofvt.com
Darkwing Enterprises, Wolcott
Darkwing is a wholesaler of maple sap and an excavation business. With COVID depressing construction and excavation activity last year, owner Ronnie Leroux faced mounting credit card bills in order to upgrade his sugaring equipment. A VCLF loan helped provide relief until excavation work began to resume this spring. The loan preserves one full-time year-round job and four fulltime seasonal positions during peak sugaring season. darkwingent.com
Front Seat Coffee, Hardwick
Front Seat Coffee, a coffeehouse & bakery, shuttered in early 2020 due to COVID-19, eventually reopening for takeout only. Uncertain when he’d be able to welcome customers back inside safely, owner Tobin Porter imagined an additional ‘satellite’ operation. Serving coffee and baked goods out of a prefabricated, portable structure manufactured by Up End This (another VCLF borrower) surrounded by socially-distant outdoor seating would be safer for both customers and staff. This VCLF loan, covering purchase of the shed unit and bakery & coffee equipment, preserves one full-time job and four part-time jobs, with three new jobs expected to be created. frontseatcoffee.com
Joneslan Farm, Hyde Park
Joneslan Farm was started in 1872 by the great great grandparents of brothers and current owners Brian and Steven Jones. Facing declining revenues over the 26 years they’ve operated Joneslan, they’ve chosen to transition from cows to a goats milk dairy. Goats can be milked with less equipment, lower feed and supplies costs, and the milk can be sold at a much higher price point. VCLF financing will be used for barn renovations to accommodate the goats, some of which will be sourced from Miles Hooper, a Vermont goat dairy farmer and a VCLF borrower as well! The loan preserves two full-time and two part-time jobs, plus other seasonal positions. facebook.com/joneslanfarm
Lost Nation Brewing, Morrisville
With Lost Nation’s wholesale beer sales and their taproom business negatively impacted due to COVID, owners Allen Van Anda and Jamie Griffith approached VCLF for a loan through our Northern Vermont Recovery Loan Fund. The NVRLF loan was used to purchase a labeler for their growing canned beer product line, and a centrifuge which will increase yield. lostnationbrewing.com
Neck of the Woods, Waitsfield
For eight years, nonprofit early care & learning center Neck of the Woods operated out of the Moretown Elementary School. When the opportunity arose to move into a new location, rent-free, with a goal of purchasing the property at an advantageous price from community-focused owners, they came to VCLF for financing. The new location has allowed them to double their size from 38 to 76 children and families served, preserve ten full-time jobs, and add seven new full-time and ten new seasonal jobs. neckofthewoodsvt.com
Northern Reliability, Burlington
Northern Reliability, a VCLF borrower since 2016, installs solar and energy storage systems for utility companies and corporate clients. With sales on the rise, Northern Reliability requested to expand their VCLF line of credit. Financing preserves 21 Vermont jobs, with 10 new jobs anticipated. northernreliability.com
Tiny Dreamers in Early Childhood, Williston
Tiny Dreamers is a full-day, year-round licensed center, providing early care & learning to children and families in and around Chittenden County. Director Paula Nadeau came to VCLF for financing to purchase the program from its owner, allowing a seamless transition in both ownership and care for 26 children and families.. The loan preserves eight jobs. facebook.com/Tiny-Dreamers-in-Early-Childhood-LLC-701430309957886
Wilson Herb Farm, Greensboro
Brenden and Lindsay Beer, growers of organic culinary and medicinal herbs used in their value-added products, recently purchased a successful organic produce farm and farm stand. They came to VLCF to help finance farm stand renovations to add processing equipment, a septic system and customer parking. The loan preserves two full-time jobs, two seasonal jobs, with two additional full-time jobs anticipated. wilsonherbfarm.com
Since April of 2020, VCLF has participated in administering loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the federal CARES Act, to help cover payroll and other costs. In the first quarter of 2021, we administered PPP loans for:
• Salah Ali, Colchester
• Cowan Technologies, Williston
• Creative Discoveries Early Care & Education, Essex Jct.
• Corey D’Avignon, Orwell
• Far Post Soccer Club, Essex Jct.
• Fiddlers Green Inn, Stowe
• Fisher Brothers Farm, Shelburne
• Jason and Amber Hubner, Putney
• Herb Craft, Middlesex
• Jamaican Supreme, Winooski
• Law Office of Denise Bailey, Montpelier
• My Favorite Things Food Truck, Jeffersonville
• NU Chocolat, Burlington
• Pulmac Systems, Williston
• Roscioli Food Group, Williston
• What What Films, Winooski