TOP WOMEN OWNED BUSINESSES
$1.5 MILLION-$3.99 MILLION Jill Batka dynamic Conveyor president
$1.5 MILLION-$3.99 MILLION
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ince 2001, Jill Batka has headed Dynamic Conveyor Corp. in Muskegon, a company previously founded by her father but then acquired by Batka and her two sisters. Last year it was certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise. Dynamic Conveyor produces modular conveyors made of plastic and metal materials; they are designed to move lightweight products or parts quickly and efficiently in a plant setting. The conveyors, being modular units, can easily be disconnected and reconfigured like giant Legos, so new conveyors aren’t needed whenever the production layout within a plant changes. Born and raised in Muskegon, Batka graduated from Mona Shores High School in 1983 and attended Muskegon
Community College, where she earned an associate degree in business administration. Her first professional job — assistant bookkeeper — began in 1985 at a furniture store. Later she worked as a cost assistant at Grand Transformers, a manufacturing company in Grand Haven. In 1988, Batka took a job at Pliant Plastics, an injection molding company her father owned and managed. Meanwhile, at night she was also back in school, earning a bachelor’s degree. Today, Dynamic Conveyor has 17 employees. One of Batka’s most significant achievements is increasing the company’s sales by 57 percent within five years. Batka has served on the boards of Baker College and Grand Haven Bank.
Meg Goebel president/Ceo paul Goebel Group
$1.5 MILLION-$3.99 MILLION
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his is the fourth time Meg Goebel’s insurance agency, Paul Goebel Group, has been named a Top Women Owned Business by the Grand Rapids Business Journal, and she also has marked four years as one of the Business Journal’s 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan. Established in 1932, the agency has evolved from property and casualty products to offering insurance for life, accident, health, disability, professional liability, commercial liability, property, workers compensation, homeowners and auto coverage. Goebel first worked at the family business as a receptionist in 1976. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Albion College in 1979 and a detour to work
in marketing in Colorado, she came back into the fold and, in 1994, purchased the agency from her father, Paul Goebel. Today, it employs 23 people. Goebel’s activities cover a wide range of interests in nonprofit and community
organizations, particularly the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, where she is chair of the board of directors and serves on the CEO Search Committee seeking a new leader with the anticipated retirement of Jeanne Englehart. Goebel also served on the Michigan Chamber of Commerce board of directors and has served on the Kent County Republican Finance Committee. Other involvements encompass the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Historical Society for the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Broadway Grand Rapids, Alliance for Health and Planned Parenthood of Western and Northern Michigan.
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