Family builds business with innovation

BY BARBARA GREENBERG

WESTMONT March 07, 2008 11:32 pm

— An award-winning industrial design team from the Chicago suburb of Westmont shares Danville roots and family ties.
Brothers Gregg and Doug Montgomery shared the 2007 Chicago Athenaeum: Architecture and Design Museum’s “Good Design Award” with their nephew Rob Montgomery for their work as designers and stylists of the new AGCO Challenger MT900 series 4-wheel-drive tractor introduced earlier in the year.
Kip Montgomery, Gregg’s son and also a member of the firm, won a 2007 “Good Design Award” for his design of a new HID Marine Search Light for the JW Speaker System.
This year, the Atheneum received over 1,000 entries from 26 countries. Other notable winners this year included the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the BMW M3 Coupe and the Apple iPhone.
Gregg, the eldest member of the family involved in Montgomery Design International, credits Danville for sparking his interest in industrial design. It all started with art.
“I won a safety poster contest in grade school,” Gregg said. “My slogan was ‘Stay alert. Stay alive.’
“Then there was a commercial artist who worked in the same office building as a friend’s mom. I’d watch what he was doing and think how much fun it would be to sit and draw pictures all day.
“Danville had the world’s largest small boat company back then,” the 1963 Danville High School graduate said. “At one time, I thought I’d like to design boats.
Gregg started at University of Illinois studying commercial art. “Now, we’d call it graphic design,” he said.
“But I realized I was more interested in three-dimensional work. I switched to industrial design.”
Doug Montgomery, Gregg’s younger brother, followed a similar path 15 years later. He credits their parents for influencing these two sons’ career paths.
“Our dad was a tool and die maker,” Doug said. “He was innovative and he was inventive.
“Mom was a teacher, She was creative in her own way.
“Art classes were always my favorites,” Doug said. “I took drafting classes at VOTEC and had a summer job as an appliance designer at ESCO.”
Doug graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in industrial engineering like his brother. Each held a variety of design jobs for different companies before Gregg formed Montgomery Design International in 1983.
Rob Montgomery, son of Doug’s and Gregg’s late brother Rob and a 1995 DHS graduate, joined the company after holding a variety of design related jobs around the country.
Kip Montgomery, Gregg’s son, graduated from Hinsdale Central High School in 1989. He studied zoology and entomology at University of Wisconsin-Madison but chose to follow his passion for art and design with the family firm.
“I learned that a job takes up most of your time, your life,” Kip said. “I wanted to have a job that combines the things I enjoy.”
In addition to agricultural machinery, Montgomery Design International designs a variety of other products. Some of those include home appliances like refrigerators, medical equipment and motor homes.

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