Meet MK Battery President: Wayne Merdinger

Did you know that Wayne Merdinger, President of MK Battery, is only the 2nd president of the company in its nearly 40-year history, following in the footsteps of co-founder Mark Wels? Learn more below about Wayne, how he runs MK Battery professionally, and who he is outside of business.

While Wayne has been running MK Battery since 2013 when he was named Executive Vice President and General Manager, and then becoming President of the company in 2018, he has been with the organization for over 16 years starting back in 2006 in a sales management role. Before MK Battery, Wayne worked in and around the wheelchair and Home Medical Equipment (HME) industry since 1975 when he went to work for his dad’s company, repairing power and manual wheelchairs in Brooklyn, NY. Later, after his dad sold that business, Wayne moved into various sales and marketing roles, ultimately becoming Director of Sales for Lumex, Inc. and later, President and COO at Graham-Field Health Products, Inc. When Wayne thinks about his decision to move into the battery business, he said, “MK afforded me a huge opportunity to utilize my experience while allowing me to broaden my horizons into technologies and applications both inside and outside of HME.”

As the President of MK Battery, Wayne’s focus is on continuing the culture and mission that got them to where they are today, while positioning the company to continue its legacy for years to come. When asked about the current priorities at MK Battery, Wayne’s mind went to the most recent challenges that every business is dealing with in today’s environment. He states, “With the impact of the pandemic, whether it is remote work, supply chain interruptions, labor shortages, etc., nobody could have predicted the extraordinary conditions that companies are having to navigate through today, and that dynamic certainly plays no small part in my day-to-day priorities. As always, customer satisfaction is first and foremost at MK Battery.”

Wayne considers himself a people person, so the best part about his job to him is getting to interact with the wonderful customers of MK Battery from all over the world. He’s fortunate enough to call many of those people his friends. He also feels privileged to be surrounded by a terrific team of professional colleagues within his own organization whom he considers his extended family. Wayne says, “In my capacity, running the subsidiary of a much larger corporation, I feel truly blessed to have both the benefit of a fabulous internal staff and a most supportive parent company (East Penn Manufacturing Co.). Having been around related businesses for nearly 47 years and going to the same industry trade events year after year, one of the most rewarding and gratifying experiences for me is running into people that I hired into entry-level positions years ago that have since prospered in their own right and are now in leadership roles themselves.” When looking at what makes him a successful leader, Wayne values integrity, respectfulness, fairness, vision, and, especially in today’s environment, adaptability. While he doesn’t claim to have mastered all of these, he tries his best to strive to do so every day.

When asked about what Wayne likes to do in his free time, he says, “I think that no matter your career role, it is important to balance it with other passions that help keep things in proper perspective. For me, it is my family and my hobby, in that order. Running a company doesn’t provide the luxury of a lot of free time, so it makes it even more important that whatever leisure time there is be spent on worthwhile endeavors. There is nothing more worthwhile than spending quality time with family. Aside from that, music is my passion. I am a singer/songwriter and musician, and that helps round out a busy and productive lifestyle.”