“It’s been quite a ride.”

This fall, VES-Artex co-founder Chad Miles announced his retirement, and those words, he says, sum up his time with the company and in the industry. The decision is one that didn’t come lightly for Chad, who has invested nearly 20 years of his life; building, growing and helping to sustain the company that started in the bedroom of co-founder John McBride’s house all those years ago.

After 9-11, the airport ground support equipment manufacturer in Chippewa Falls had to make some cuts. So fortunately for the dairy industry, Chad was among those let go. The shift opened up time for a contract role in the dairy ventilation space where Chad met John McBride.

“About three weeks into the contract, this Canadian asks me to go to lunch with him – I didn’t even know the guy. He told me that he was tired of building success for other companies and was ready to start something of his own,” Chad shares.

The “Canadian” was John McBride, and what Chad didn’t realize during that initial lunch was that the conversation would mark the beginning of a partnership that would change the course of his career and his life. The more he considered it, the more he recognized that the opportunity in front of him wasn’t one he could pass up – even if it didn’t look like an “opportunity” in the beginning.

“We started in a bedroom of John’s house, then moved to the basement,” Chad remembers of the early days. “I had a computer and a cell phone, working out of John’s basement; that’s how we started.”

Today, as multi-million-dollar business, VES-Artex is proud to provide solutions to customers around the world.

Founded on Family Values

“That Canadian”, John McBride, and his bride, Jennifer, not only worked with Chad to build a company that has become a global contender in the cow comfort and dairy barn innovation space but a friendship that endures today.

The foundation of VES-Artex was built as much on friendship as it was on innovation – shaped by people who still believe that success means taking care of one another, and that includes the customers you serve.

It wasn’t long before Peter Fahrngruber joined the fun and the rest… it’s far from history.

“Without a doubt, my partners in the business are my biggest mentors: John and Jennifer McBride and Peter Fahrngruber. They are still my best friends and will be family to me until the day I die,” Chad explains. “All my success has come from other people believing in me more than I believed in myself. Every time I felt down my partners have always been there to pick me up.”

Storied Changes and Legacy

“Dairy ventilation, believe it or not, has taken me to some places that are just unreal – like the middle-of-nowhere China.”

With those 20 years under his belt, Chad isn’t short on stories. The thousands of miles he has logged, globe trotting to serve dairy farms around the world, have provided the fodder for stories that could be movie scripts.

He’s amassed a treasure trove memory of special people and special places…some a little more special than others, he shares.

“One of the dairy farms we were on (in China), was taken hostage. Our hosts kept asking us questions – easy questions, questions that could be answered the next day – it ended up being around 11:30 at night and the questions were still coming. All the while this situation was going on outside. Finally, they were honest and told us that there were men with guns at the dairy gate. They had the driveway blocked,” Chad casually adds, “We didn’t park inside the farm, so we just walked down the dairy road and then out to the main road where were the car was at. That’s how we got out of the situation.”

He laughs as he tells the story that raises eyebrows from unsuspecting listeners. The shock value is another takeaway, as is the perspective – perspective that can and has helped to shape an industry.

If you ask Chad what he’s most proud of, he’ll tell you: the team he has been apart of growing and fostering and the “CYCLONE” (VHV).

“The team we’ve built, made up of great people who truly care about dairy farmers and agriculture – that’s the achievement I’m most proud of. In the beginning it was so hard to get things done because of our lack of manpower. That isn’t the case today, we’ve all worked together to make VES-Artex a place people are proud to work,” he says with a smile.

And that pride in-part is because of the value products like the CYCLONE (VHV) bring to dairy farms. The innovation introduced a new concept of ventilation and resulting cow comfort to the industry. And that’s no small feat in an industry that is typically averse to change.

“The biggest change I’ve seen in the dairy industry over the last 20 years is the willingness to accept technology,” he adds. “Some of the things our team is doing today would never have been accepted or valued when we first started.”

The Right Time

As one can imagine, the decision to step away from something that has consumed so much time, energy and passion is not one to be taken lightly. But the time, Chad shares, is right.

“We have an incredible team of young people coming up the ranks here at VES-Artex. I haven’t felt comfortable about passing the torch these past several years, it was an uneasy time. But I feel good about passing it today,” he shares. “The new leadership is taking us in the right direction. We’re back to being focused on the farmer and helping farmers get their job done.”

In the spring of 2025, new ownership was announced, marking the return of the goals and initiatives the company was founded under. Farmers first. Agriculture first.

After decades of designing product solutions, troubleshooting issues, traveling the world and supporting the dairy industry and his employees, alike, he’s ready to catch the fish and hunt the game he’s only had finite time to pursue in the past.

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