{"id":149993,"date":"2024-04-30T10:06:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=149993"},"modified":"2024-04-30T10:08:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:08:31","slug":"lake-campus-alums-success-a-family-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/04\/30\/lake-campus-alums-success-a-family-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Campus alum\u2019s success a family affair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the recipient of the Lake Campus 2024 Outstanding Alumnus Award, Luke VanTilburg gave the commencement address at the Lake Campus\u2019 spring commencement ceremony on April 25. (Photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

As the chief financial officer of a family-owned agricultural conglomerate, Wright State University\u2013Lake Campus alum Luke VanTilburg is a \u201cbean counter\u201d literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n

VanTilburg and his brothers Matt and Kyle are the fourth-generation owners of the VTF family of companies: VanTilburg Farms, VTF Excavation, VTF Sunrise and MVP Dairy. VanTilburg\u2019s niece, a fellow Wright State graduate, recently joined the family business, representing the fifth generation of VanTilburgs to work for the company.<\/p>\n

VanTilburg was honored as the Lake Campus 2024 Outstanding Alumnus on April 25 during the Lake Campus\u2019 spring commencement ceremony<\/a>, where he gave the commencement address.<\/p>\n

While proud of the honor, the married father of two boys said he would not be where he is now solely on his own, giving credit to his associates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly humbling,\u201d he said. \u201cTo think of the number of people at the Lake Campus and you\u2019re \u2018that\u2019 guy. It\u2019s quite and honor and I appreciate the recognition. But I\u2019m successful because of the people at VTF. I am only a small part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright State\u2019s Lake Campus was VanTilburg\u2019s home-away-from-home when the Celina High School graduate collected college degrees like Tom Brady collected Super Bowl trophies. Realizing he enjoyed accounting and wanting to work in the family business while taking classes, VanTilburg enrolled at the Lake Campus, which his family\u2019s farm is adjacent to.<\/p>\n

He earned an associate degree in applied business<\/a>, with a specialization in financial management and accounting, in 2000, followed by a bachelor\u2019s degree in organizational leadership in 2003 and a Master of Business Administration<\/a> in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate what the Lake Campus has to offer,\u201d he said. \u201cIt provides a valuable education and an opportunity to network. It\u2019s also a driver for community growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The origins of VanTilburg\u2019s family business materialized from humble beginnings. VanTilburg\u2019s great-grandfather farmed land for room-and-board and was a sharecropper for many years. He finally saved enough money to buy his own land, and the company was ultimately incorporated in 1977 originally as a retailer of seeds and chemicals.<\/p>\n

Operations diversified as different generations took control and they sought out niche markets to explore. Partnerships were formed with other agricultural companies when VTF ventured into unfamiliar territory. In the past two decades, the company has grown from 14 employees to 135.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Luke VanTilburg is a three-time graduate of Wright State\u2019s Lake Campus and the fourth-generation of his family to operate VTF Farms in Celina.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLuke is an exceptional CFO, but I would argue more importantly, he is a family-oriented owner,\u201d said Jacob Waterman, office coordinator for VTF Excavation. \u201cNot only does Luke prioritize his own family, but he unequivocally cares about VTF employees and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his commencement address, VanTilburg shared an allegory from a late mentor. When you look out at the smoothness of a large lake that represents the world in front of you and cast a small stone into the body of water, he said, the rock sinks quickly to the bottom with little effect by all appearances. But when looking at the bigger picture, as the stone descends, it creates ripples, and those ripples are indicative of the influence you have on others in your life.<\/p>\n

Representative stones were disseminated at his mentor\u2019s funeral service, one of which VanTilburg keeps on his desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose ripples are still there long after you\u2019re gone,\u201d said VanTilburg. \u201cHe still affects my life even though he\u2019s been gone now for more than 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

One condition VanTilburg\u2019s father insisted on when he ceded ownership of the company to his sons was that they serve the community. VanTilburg has taken that directive to heart. A sample of his service includes the Western Ohio Educational Foundation Board, which supports the Lake Campus, Celina Lions Club, Mercer County House of Hope and Big Brothers\/Big Sisters, among others. He has also participated in local and international mission trips with his church.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuke exemplifies what it means to be an excellent role model as a family man, in business and in service to our community,\u201d said Robin Elston, corporate director of strategic improvement at Cooper Farms, Inc.<\/p>\n

As he looks to the future, VanTilburg is determined to maintain his company’s unique identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll try to do things differently from other folks,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s our goal to be on the leading edge and progressively try new things. We take pride in the fact that we\u2019re growing and that we provide a basic staple and a source of food for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the recipient of the Lake Campus 2024 Outstanding Alumnus Award, Luke VanTilburg gave the commencement address at its spring commencement ceremony on April 25. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":150007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4309,4299,748,2104,2060,744,725,731,4896,2050,715,2061],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-association","category-alumni-profile","category-business","category-teacher-education","category-graduate","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-lake-campus","category-leadership-studies-in-education-organizations","category-mba","category-news","category-undergraduate","series-2024-alumni-achievement-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149993"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150015,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149993\/revisions\/150015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}