Cascade Dafo CEO to run grocery chain in Seattle

Written by Dave Gallagher | The Bellingham Herald | August 24, 2010

I’ll post some further details about this later in the business section, but here’s a press release about Bill Weymer leaving Cascade Dafo to run Town & Country Markets in the Seattle area:

Cascade Dafo, Inc., the nation’s leader in design, innovation and manufacture of dynamic pediatric orthoses, today announced the departure of Mr. Bill Weymer as CEO.

Weymer, who has been with the company for six years, will remain at Cascade Dafo through September. Beginning in October, Weymer will take up his new role as CEO of Town & Country Markets, which owns and operates six grocery stores in the greater Seattle area.

“Cascade Dafo is a wonderful company with an incredible mission, and this departure is not an easy one for me,” said Weymer. “This company helps improve the lives of children with mobility challenges all over the world, every single day. I am truly honored to have worked with so many great individuals during my time here.”

Cascade Dafo has manufactured plastic orthotic braces, primarily for pediatric patients, for nearly 30 years. Cascade provides these braces to practitioners around the country and even internationally. The company is known for its innovative brace design: a thin, flexible structure with wraparound support—dubbed the DAFO (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthoses)—which allows greater freedom of movement for patients. 

Weymer has served ad Cascade Dafo’s CEO since 2004. At that time, the company had 120 employees. Today, more than 225 employees work at the Ferndale-based manufacturer. In addition to overseeing this growth, the company has increased its presence in the global AFO marketplace and introduced an innovative automated manufacturing process that saves customers both time and money during Weymer’s tenure. This achievement helped earn the company first place in the Manufacturing Innovation of the Year category this past May at the Washington State Manufacturing Awards ceremony, as well as runner-up in the Large Size Manufacturer of the Year category. Seattle Business Magazine hosted the event.

Town & Country Markets will be familiar territory for Weymer when he takes over as CEO in October. He previously spent more than 30 years in the grocery industry, most recently a Senior Executive with Brown and Cole Stores, prior to joining Cascade Dafo. After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in food marketing, Weymer began his career with Associated Grocers where he served supermarkets in the Northwest. He went on to serve as Vice President of Marketing and Operations for Consumer’s Choice, Thrifty Foods and then Brown & Cole Stores.

“As difficult as this departure will be, it does feel like a bit of a homecoming for me, in a way,” said Weymer. “Town & Country has a very special culture, much in the same way as Cascade Dafo, and that makes it a really enjoyable organization to be a part of. I had the pleasure of opening the Ballard Market when I was at Town & Country in the eighties, and I look forward to returning to a lot of those projects I worked on before, as well as the exciting, new projects Town & Country has underway. This change will also allow my wife and I to be closer to our family, which is important to us.”