Chip Johns is the president and COO of Butler Automatic, the inventor of automatic splicing technology. Prior to Butler, Johns built Vanguard Sailboats from a start-up company into an industry leader through organic growth, new product development, and several acquisitions. In addition to his role at Butler, Johns is one of the founders of a private equity investor group targeting middle-market manufacturing companies, and has served as a strategic advisor to established and start-up manufacturing companies.