Roosevelt Tillman, President & CEO of Veteran Medical Products, Named one of MD&DI magazine’s 100 Notable People in the Medical Device Industry
March 06, 2009

Roosevelt is a homegrown, minority entrepeneur, who has made a comfortable living with his real estate development and restuarant/night club businesses in the greater Grand Rapids area. His strong desire to put the local folks to work, and his dedication to this area prompted him to venture into the manufacturing arena, specifically biased toward the medical and biomedical industries. Roosevelt saw the writing on the wall for the automotive and furniture industries, and chose to focus on medical for his core business.

In the 3.5 years since building a $2Million facility, purpose-built for medical-related injection molding and assembly, Roosevelt has grown the company from five people to well over 30 people, with no end in sight to the growth. His ability to connect with potential customers, coupled with his obvious bias toward being a good steward of God's gifts, has resulted in unheard-of success in a small company's ability to garner business from the 'big-boys' in the industry. Suffice to say we are doing business for some of the largest OEMs in the country.

Roosevelt, who is also a veteran of the first Gulf War, has a strong belief in the team he's assembled being part of his extended family, and has the ability to make everyone feel very special. Roosevelt recently partnered with a gentleman with considerable experience in devices for cardiac surgery, both for the necessary capital and additional experience to keep us on the correct path as we grow. He knows that putting together a great team is supremely important to our long-term success, and will do what it takes to recruit talented people. At the same time, it pleases Roosevelt to no end that he is meeting the promises he made to the city for job creation, and as the Supplier Diversity requirements for the large OEMs become more prominent in those organizations, Roosevelt is there and ready to fill the void that currently exists in their ability to find competent, versatile, minority-owned manufacturing.

It is an honor and a pleasure working for Roosevelt Tillman, and his vision for this company makes us all proud to be affiliated with Medbio!