David MacNeil, founder and CEO of WeatherTech, is probably one of the best-known CEOs in America. His company sells high-quality car and truck accessories ranging from digitally made mats to cup holders and even pet ramps.
The story of how MacNeil mortgaged his house to pay for the first mats he sold is a legend. Now, as a self-made millionaire, David MacNeil is the quintessential American success story.
But what is he doing now?
First, he’s started a new line of pet food bowls under the brand name of PetComfort. “As a pet owner, when I first heard about the harmful toxins that were being found in various pet food bowls, I was immediately guilt-ridden at the possibility of unknowingly putting my dog’s health at risk,” MacNeil said on the company’s website. “I decided to take matters into my own hands, and create a pet feeding system that focused on what was best for my best friend Scout.”
“The main cause of canine death in America is cancer, and our job as dog owners and animal lovers is to make sure our dogs are eating from non-toxic bowls and drinking clean water,” David MacNeil told Forbes. “I saw an opportunity not only to help animals and also certainly create a niche in the market, to sell more products and employ more Americans and build another American factory.”
Made in the United States from U.S.-sourced materials, PetComfort bowls are free from common contaminants such as BPA, phthalates, lead, and even radiation (some steel bowls made in foreign countries have been found to have radioactive contamination). They are free from toxic fillers, NSF certified, shatterproof, and resistant to cuts or cracks. PetComfort also offers ergonomic bowls, raised off the ground, which are convenient for animals with disabilities or problems with arthritis.
MacNeil has also ensured that WeatherTech has run Super Bowl ads since 2013. The 2018 ad, which you can watch below, features the construction of WeatherTech’s new factory. Part of the factory will be used for manufacturing car accessories, but most of it will be used to manufacture his PetComfort bowls. “At WeatherTech, we built our new factory right here in America. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?” the ad asks.
But David MacNeil is more than an entrepreneur. He’s an avid fan of racing and flying. He’s a sponsor of the famous Laguna Seca track, and early in 2019 he bought a 1963 Ferarri 250 GTO number 4153 GT.
In 2016, he flew 3,922 nautical miles nonstop in his Gulfstream G280, with four passengers and two crew members, including himself. The trip, from Chicago to Tours Val de Loire Airport in France, was the longest in the jet’s history, Gulfstream told the Atlanta Business Journal. The trip took 7 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed of Mach 0.80.
Although he may not be known for it, David MacNeil is also a bit political. He was a “megadonor” to President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to the Chicago Tribune. But even though MacNeil strongly supports the president and Republicans in Congress, he announced in May of 2018 that he would cut off funding to any Republican candidate who didn’t support legislation protecting DACA participants, young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.
“I’m not supporting politicians that aren’t working hard to get this done, from the dogcatcher on up,” MacNeil told the Tribune. He added that while he supported President Trump’s decision to rescind the Obama-era executive order that created DACA, he urged Trump to get behind a permanent legislative solution.
“America is a country of immigrants, and there are 800,000 people who have grown up here and been educated here—they have their own American dreams to follow,” MacNeil said. “To think that we would possibly jeopardize losing these people to some other country would be a tragedy of epic proportion.”
David Macneil is himself the American Dream incarnate: a self-made millionaire, entrepreneur, animal lover, racing and aviation aficionado, and supporter of the ultimate American sporting event—the Super Bowl.
Photo by LukeandKarla.Travel / Shutterstock.com
