Tim Colonnese

Tim Colonnese is an award-winning entrepreneur and businessman with 30 years of senior management experience in the US and abroad. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Utica College of Syracuse University (Utica, NY) and master’s degree from Barry University (Miami Shores, FL), Mr. Colonnese received his CPA from the State of Florida in 1991. He worked in the accounting departments for Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation (Canajoharie, NY) for 5 years before moving to Miami to work for Coulter Corporation (Hialeah, FL). Coulter then promoted him to General Manger of their Hong Kong subsidiary, overseeing sales operations in 12 countries along the Pacific Rim.

In 1992, Mr. Colonnese was awarded Coulter’s Pioneer Award for his efforts in growing the company’s business in China.  Coulter selected Mr. Colonnese as one of 12 company employees (out of 6,500) to join their Field Management Development Program, a senior management training program. This two-year program held training sessions in Canada, Germany, Britain and the US. As part of the program, Mr. Colonnese moved to San Francisco to serve as a Sales Manager in Coulter’s most demanding US region, increasing market share by 40% over a two-year period. In 1995, Meridian Instruments (Okemos, MI) recruited Mr. Colonnese to take over their Tokyo office overseeing all business activities in a 15-country region throughout Asia and Australia. Mr. Colonnese moved to Michigan in 1997 to become a founder of KTM Industries, Inc. with four Michigan State University professors.

Over the past 23 years, he has been KTM’s President and CEO, building the company into an industry leading producer of environmentally sustainable packaging, with its headquarters located in Holt, Michigan and a satellite manufacturing facility in Reno, Nevada. Mr. Colonnese has received awards from Governors Engler, Granholm and Snyder during his tenure at KTM. KTM’s Green Cell Foam is used in the packaging of hundreds of companies across North America to protect pharmaceuticals, foods, wines, electronics and many other products during shipping (www.greencellfoam.com). He lives in Haslett, MI with his wife, Paige. They have two daughters, Carly and Caitlin.