The Dispatch

“I believe that Sen. Vance’s comments were spoken without … real knowledge of what the workforce situation in Ohio is,” says Ross McGregor, CEO of Pentaflex Inc. His company makes brake and axle components for trucks. Which trucks? “All of them,” he says proudly. He tries to be diplomatic about Sen. Vance. “I don’t think he really understands from a boots-on-the-ground perspective what employers are dealing with in trying to have a consistent and reliable workforce. If he were to apply a business mindset to this situation, he would see the benefit that we get from simply being able to rely on somebody coming to work every day.”

Eventually, he stops trying so hard to be diplomatic: “It doesn’t help all the memes going around about eating cats and geese and crazy sh-t like that. None of that helps.” The McGregors have been active in business and community life in Springfield for more than a century, and the CEO is proud of that longevity, which also gives him a little bit of perspective that the senator seems to lack.