A Family Affair
By Carol L. Allen
Photo by Open Throttle Marine
It is definitely a family affair, and all of them extend an OPEN
invitation to the grand OPENING celebration of OPEN Throttle Marine
on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 and 26. There will be food, raffle
prizes, kids’ activities, beautiful boats, and more.
Come see the owners at the Arizona Boat Show, Feb. 1-5 in Space
A-2 and at the Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days and Boat Show March 24,
25 and 26 at Lake Pleasant.
Open Throttle Marine is a welcome addition to the Arizona boating
scene. They will be selling Genesis Boats (manufactured in
Riverside, Calif.) and Lightning Custom Boats (manufactured in San
Fernando, Calif.); both are custom-fabricated performance boats.
Open Throttle’s customers will have the choice of either buying
off the showroom floor or custom ordering their boats — choosing
color, graphics, engine, and many other options. These boats are
hand laminated with full gelcoat, upholstery made in-house to match
the color and graphics.
Every boat is truly one of a kind. The new store will also be
offering a Mercury Authorized Service Center and a fully stocked
accessory store with everything needed to hit the water.
Families Operate Open Throttle
Open Throttle Marine is truly a family run business. The owners
are Steve Adkins and Joel Gonzalez, and Steve’s wife Anna is
operations manager.
Their son Mike Bashaw, who has a Bachelors Degree in Finance from
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif., is the
finance manager, and their daughter Kristen Bashaw, who holds a
Bachelors Degree in Sociology from California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona, Calif., is marketing manager.
Helping out will be son Matthew Adkins, 16.
Continuing the family focus are the Gonzalezes. Owner Joel
Gonzalez is joined by his wife Dionne, customer service
representative. Although too young to be involved in the business at
the present, Open Throttle Marine will have more potential partners
as the years go by: The Gonzalezes have five young children — Joel,
Jr., 13; Joseph, 10; Jordan, 8; Justine, 5, and Jonathan, 3.
Personnel Are Experienced
According to Steve Adkins, "Joel, my wife Anna, my daughter
Kristen and I all worked for the same construction company in
Southern California. Joel was the field superintendent in charge of
all field crews, installations and equipment. My wife Anna was vice
president of administration and oversaw the human resource, sales,
and accounting departments.
"My daughter Kristen was the payroll specialist, and I was the
vice president of operations and responsible for the drafting,
engineering, manufacturing, and erecting. Among the four of us we
had over 45 years with the same company."
Dionne Gonzales worked for SBC for 11 years as a customer service
representative. Mike Adkins has worked for The Walt Disney Company
in Burbank, Calif., as a senior financial analyst for the past year
and was previously employed by Accenture in Los Angeles, as a
financial analyst.
Boating Is Not Only Business To Them
According to Steve Adkins, "Joel and I, with our families, have
been boating enthusiasts for almost 20 years. In the spring and
summer you can find us on the Colorado River anywhere from Lake Mead
to the Parker Strip. Joel moved to Arizona two years ago and kept
telling us of the tremendous growth and that we should come take a
look for ourselves.
"About the same time, the opportunity for us to become a dealer
for Genesis Boats came about. It has long been a dream of ours to
have and run a successful first-rate boat dealership. After a lot of
research and discussions, Open Throttle Marine was born and we could
not be more proud and excited.
"Joel and I both have a strong sense of family, and that is how
we are running our shop: family run with hard work, honesty, and
integrity. We choose the City of Peoria for our business because it
is centrally located and easily accessible to the entire Phoenix
Metro area.
Genesis Boats and Lightning Custom Boats are both young
companies. Genesis Boats is a family run business headed by Joel
Casillas, one of the industry’s best-known gelcoat experts. The
Casillas family was mentioned in Hot Boat Magazine as the
"First Family of the Custom Boat Building Industry."
Lightning Custom Boats is also a family owned business, with over
35 years of custom boat-building experience between the owners,
brothers Jerry and Jason VanBeek.
For more information, contact
Open Throttle Marine, 9440 N. 75th Avenue, Suite 100 Peoria, AZ
85345, phone: (623) 487-4041, fax: (623) 487-3491, or visit
www.openthrottlemarine.com. |
