Scott A. Hoffman

Chief Executive Officer Fisher Barton

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Scott A. Hoffman is chief executive of Fisher Barton, a Watertown, Wisconsin manufacturer. It began in 1973 making lawn mower blades and now works in surface engineering, advanced materials and precision industrial components. He was hired in November 2020 after a national search, bringing more than 30 years of leadership in casting, stamping and precision-machined products for the heavy truck, marine and foundry industries. Under him Fisher Barton has put money into automation and a new Turning Center of Excellence, won John Deere’s top supplier award two years running, and in June 2026 became employee-owned.

Career Highlights

• Named CEO of Fisher Barton in November 2020, after a national search. He succeeded interim chief Craig Smith.
• Previously Vice President of the Municipal Products Group at Neenah Enterprises, Inc.
• Previously President of the Wise Company, a Memphis-based maker of seating systems.
• Held senior roles at Brunswick: Vice President of the Brunswick Boat Group’s operations in Poland and President of a Brunswick unit in New Zealand.
• At Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac, served as Vice President and General Manager and as Vice President of Supply Chain for the Mercury Marine Group.
• Led Fisher Barton’s move to employee ownership, announced in June 2026.

Professional Journey

Much of Hoffman’s earlier career was spent in the Brunswick marine group. At Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac he was Vice President and General Manager and Vice President of Supply Chain for the Mercury Marine Group. He also ran Brunswick operations abroad, as Vice President of the Brunswick Boat Group’s operations in Poland and as President of a Brunswick unit in New Zealand. He later became President of the Wise Company, a Memphis seating-system manufacturer, and then Vice President of the Municipal Products Group at Neenah Enterprises. Fisher Barton credits him with a record in sales and marketing, supply chain and product development.

Fisher Barton named him CEO in November 2020. The role had been filled on an interim basis since that July by Craig Smith, who went back to running Fisher Barton TST in Sun Prairie. At the time, the company described itself as a family business and a group of eight operating companies with operations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas and Vietnam. Board Chair David Wilkey said Hoffman understood “the advantages that a well-run family business offers” and was the right person to lead the operating companies in a post-COVID-19 market.

The company’s releases since then describe what it calls six years of transformation. It introduced a company-wide bonus program, first paid in January 2022, which Hoffman said was the first time in the company’s nearly 50-year history that every team member shared in its results. It committed to Six Sigma quality, set up Greenbelt and Blackbelt training through Fisher Barton University, and invested in automation, customer-focused work teams and a new Turning Center of Excellence for precision machining. In 2023 it marked its 50th anniversary and the centenary of its Zenith Cutter division. In 2026 John Deere gave it a Partner Award for the second consecutive year, the highest supplier classification in Deere’s Achieving Excellence Program. Fisher Barton has supplied Deere since 1982.

On 10 June 2026 Fisher Barton announced that it had become employee-owned, which Hoffman called “a natural next step”. In May 2026 he had a conference room renamed in honour of founder Richard L. Wilkey, and in August 2026 the company renamed its Technology Center after Wilkey as well. Wilkey started the business in a rented building in Oconomowoc in 1973.

Education

No education record was found in the company’s releases or other sources reviewed.