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MiMfg Magazine
November 2019
2019 MFG Lifetime Achievement
Tammy Bernier
Duperon Corporation • Saginaw
Wherever Tammy Bernier is, leadership is present
and a legacy of excellence is being built. Her good
deeds have fostered growth, self-expression, and
empowerment to those around her while her company’s
culture is full of people who together dare to make a
difference — the perfect embodiment of Bernier’s
servant heart.
As the CEO of Duperon Corporation, she brings
more than 35 years of management and family
business experience to the table.
“I love making things and I love having the things
that we make live out in the world,” said Bernier. “My
whole life in manufacturing has been about taking
pride in being able to say ‘we made that’ — there’s
such satisfaction that comes from knowing the work
we do here in Saginaw is helping people all around
the world.”
The Duperon team has seen the business thrive
under Bernier’s leadership, one that started out as a
consultant for her father, Terry L. Duperon, and
quickly became a partnership that Duperon points
to as having saved the business and brought balance
to chaos.
“I had a cycle before Tammy came aboard,” Duperon
recalled. “I’d have an idea and create business, then
I’d have another idea and things would start to fall
apart. I have a lot of good skills but there were some
I didn’t have and that led to this pattern of up and
down, up and down. When Tammy came in we just
started to take off. She’s got the skills I don’t have
and she really righted the ship. Without her, we
wouldn’t exist.”
Bernier is a true dynamo, someone with endless
energy and capable of pulling together people from
across manufacturing to create true change in the world.
Her passion for manufacturing has inspired fellow
leaders to do more, give more and, on some level, care
more for the products they make, the community
they serve and the people their decisions affect.
Bernier has served as the chairman of the national
Water & Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers
Association (WWEMA) and a board member for
Mid-Michigan Women in Leadership, the Child
Abuse & Neglect Council for the Great Lakes Bay
Region, the Saginaw Community Foundation and
the Saginaw County Business Education Partnership,
among others. She was the creator of Great Lakes
Bay Regional Council of Women In Leadership/
Inforum “Brave Conversations” series and a member
of the Saginaw BIG DREAM TEAM. Her every
waking moment is spent searching for more people
who share her entrepreneurial spirit.
“I cannot tell you how I feel when I’m around
people who are up to something. The people in this
community have such an amazing generosity; you
can’t help but want to spend your time with them —
dreaming up the next way that we can help people
and leave a better world than we were given,” Bernier
said. “When good people come together to share their
gifts, great change is possible and that feeds my soul.”
The influence Bernier has is not limited to large-
scale community efforts; it’s shown in her everyday
interactions with her team.
“We want to be a force for good here. Our team
inspires me to always be better,” Bernier stated. “I
think it can be easy to be who you are at home and
who you are at work and have a separation between
the two. When you allow your people to bring their
whole selves to work, to be authentic, that’s powerful.
Together, you become unstoppable.”
As a team leader, she has made her business a
symbol of what a world-class organization can be with
people committed to making a global difference.
Walking the halls of Duperon Corporation is like
walking through a world of water and inspiration.
Much like a roaring river carving out a canyon, Bernier’s
team believes that what they do can help carve out a
better world. It just takes time, determination and heart.
Bernier has taken another passion of hers, a love
for water, and turned it into a driving force for others
in manufacturing to be good stewards of one of the
world’s most precious resources. She inspires others
to be their best selves and has left a legacy few others
can touch. Without her, the world would be a less
warm place and, certainly, a less effective one.
“I love people and I love anything to do with
growing human potential. I love the stories where
people have tough times and overcome and I love
providing pathways for people to be everything they
can be,” said Bernier. “I’m really grateful for what we’ve
accomplished and I’m even more excited to see what
we’ll do next — because our story isn’t over.”
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