Brian Reaves founded IWS on July, 1999 following 14 years in the material handling business. He started out at the age of 19 working in the parts department for a forklift/material handling dealership in Flint, Michigan where he grew up. He later relocated to Seattle to work for a Raymond forklift branch; the owner, a Chicago-based dealership, moved him 5 years later and Brian relocated again, to Chicago.
He worked with several racking/warehousing companies and gained invaluable experience in the material handling industry. In 1999, seeing an emerging and growing market, Reaves purchased a 52-year-old company, Industrial Sales. On July 1 of that year he reintroduced it as Integrated Warehouse Systems.
IWS is a family business. Brian's wife, Sherrie, manages IWS’ accounting department, and his brother Greg Reaves, operations manager, manages all warehouse, fabrication, and installations functions.
IWS is a member of the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) and Brian serves on the Dealer Advisor Board for Unarco USAT, one of IWS' major vendors.
In addition to his role as a business owner, Brian Reaves also serves as Mayor for the Village of Lemont, Illinois, about five miles from IWS’ Romeoville facility. He was elected in 2009 and served as a village trustee for six years previous. He credits a “great village staff and a great IWS team” for his ability to effectively manage his corporate and civic responsibilities.
Asked why he decided to run for Mayor, Reaves says, “As a village trustee for six years, we started many projects that I wanted to be sure were finished. And, it's very gratifying to help people, individually and as a community.”
Brian and his wife Sherrie live in Lemont and have four children.
