Gub Mix, Former Association Director and Event Organizer
MHInsider Visionary Award Winner
Gub Mix, the winner of the MHInsider Visionary Award, is a legend among state executives and industry-wide, having operated four organizations simultaneously in the westerns U.S. — Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Mix, who is related to the Old West film star Tom Mix, has been described as a “fearless promoter”. He organized and hosted the first industry congress in Las Vegas, which became the MHI Congress & Expo held each year in the spring.
What do you view as the biggest achievement in your career?
The biggest achievement in my 34-year career within the MH industry was the establishment of the National Manufactured Housing Congress in Las Vegas in 1991. Between l986 and 1990 I held a series of regional MH conventions in Reno, Lake Tahoe, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Las Vegas, including attendees from three to 11 states. Following a very successful meeting in Las Vegas in 1990, and since the MH industry had no official annual get-together, I decided to go national and booked the old Desert Inn Resort for the event. MHI agreed to assist with program planning and approximately 600 industry leaders attended. Between 1991 and 1998 we grew from 600 to 2,000 annual attendees and our exhibitor count grew from 100 to about 250. Following the 1998 event, MHI agreed to buy my ownership interest in the Congress and retained me for an additional five years to serve as Congress chairman.
What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?
What success I’ve had in my business life came from setting goals and working hard to achieve them. While attending the University of Idaho from 1951 through 1955 I worked full-time at the local radio station. In 1956 I bought that station and operated it until 1964. I next invested in several auto dealerships in Idaho and Hawaii and followed that by opening three manufactured housing sales centers in 1972 in Idaho. This led to the creation of a management company within the MH industry in 1982. In each of these moves, I recognized an opportunity and applied myself to succeed.
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