Rodney Roark

Rodney joins our Lexington Automation team as the Machining and Fabrication Specialist. After 28 years on Toyota’s fabrication group, he’s an expert in automotive assembly lines and Kaizen practices. In addition to his work with MiddleGround, he owns a fabrication shop with his 23-year-old son. Surprising given his heavy technical experience, he went to Easter Kentucky University and studied Education with the intention of teaching English!

Rodney likes to keep himself busy with work. The most rewarding aspect of his role at MiddleGround is seeing the tangible improvements at the factories. Getting to work hands on with the line workers is special because it’s a group that rarely gets invested in. He enjoys showing them how to improve (and prefers it to teaching a room fun of kids). On the other hand, the best part of working at his fabrication shop is getting to be the boss of his son! His daughter also takes after him and is going to the University of Kentucky (Go Cats!) to study electrical engineering. Contrary to the norm, he’s looking forward to an empty nest – it’ll give him some well-earned time to go duck hunting out at in the Kentucky countryside.