Meet the Team

Douglas Machining Services Management Team

Ben Kubis, General Manager – Operations

Hired as the first employee at Douglas Machining in 2006, Ben rose from machinist to supervisor over his first 15 years with the company. He still runs machines, and particularly excels on Douglas Machining’s numerous mill/turns, but he also spends a lot of time quoting parts, scheduling and helping other employees set up and program machines.

Ben earned a two-year tool and die degree from Minnesota Southeast Tech. During school, he worked at Fastenal, where he met company founder Dan Douglas. Ben received more than three months worth of training from Dan and then joined Douglas Machining a little more than a year after its founding.

Christina Douglas, General Manager – Commercial

Christina joined Douglas Machining in 2017 after working for about four years as a corrections officer for the state of Minnesota. She attended three Minnesota schools — Minnesota Southeast Tech, Walden University, and Metropolitan State University (she interned at the Goodhue County Jail through the school) — to earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Her prior work experience, desire to learn and ability to adapt have enabled Christina to become a versatile general manager. Her job consists of many tasks, including creating business, quoting, shipping, accounts payable, payroll, billing, invoicing and inventory maintenance. Christina shares her father’s ambition and previously enjoyed working with him.

Christina Douglas - General Manager – Commercial

Gary Holcomb, CEO

Gary is President & CEO of Compass Precision, LLC, Douglas’ parent company. He joined Compass in October 2019 in conjunction with its acquisitions of Advanced Machining & Tooling, Quality Products & Machine, and Tri-Tec Industries. He previously served in general management roles for several metal manufacturing firms, including Coining, Inc., a precision metal stamping firm that grew from $13 million to $65 million in revenue over seven years while Gary was CEO.

Earlier in his career, he was General Manager of Dynamet’s Forged Products Division, a Pittsburgh-based titanium CNC machining & forging shop where he learned many of the successful strategies being employed at Compass. Gary graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Paul Wilhelm, Vice President & CFO

Paul joined Compass in February of 2020 as Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. Like Gary, he has a strong CNC machining industry background. Paul worked for Paragon Metals from 2016 through early 2020, most recently as the firms’ Chief Financial Officer. Paragon machines tight-tolerance, precision-engineered metal components for the automotive industry.

Previously, he served in various accounting and finance roles for several other Charlotte-area manufacturing companies including IntraPac International, a speciality packaging company manufacturing plastic, laminate, tin and aluminum products. Paul has a BS in Business Administration and an MS in accounting, both from Georgia Southern University.

Jim Miller, VP Sales

Jim became VP Sales at Compass Precision in March 2021, moving from Orange County in Southern California. He has spent 25 years in the machining and fabrication industry. In his previous role, Jim served in a similar capacity as VP of Sales for Crenshaw Die & Manufacturing.

On two different occasions in his career, Jim started his own manufacturing company. His second venture — CJ Precision Manufacturing — grew to $1 million in sales in its first three years. In 2015, he sold the company to Crenshaw, where he worked for nearly six years before joining Compass. Jim graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA.