Who We Are

Group Leadership

Peter Limberger

Co-Founder

Peter Limberger

Peter has two engineering master degrees from the Technical University in Karlsruhe, Germany and Georgia Tech, Atlanta. In his first career, Peter worked initially as an engineer and then in management roles with increasing responsibilities, including the role of CEO, for large engineering firms such as Mannesmann AG, running projects located all over the world. He spent 3 years in Venezuela, then Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Switzerland. In the 1980’s, he managed the construction and installation of a major nuclear weapons security project for the US Air Force and NATO. With German unification in 1990, Peter began his second career as an entrepreneur and investor. He acquired or started circa 15 companies ranging from high-pressure compressor manufacturing, alternative energy systems, chemical manufacturing, and most recently for automation and robotic systems for the automotive and logistics industries. During that time, Peter served also as CEO of a large East German construction company with 1500 employees and as Chairman and CEO of a Swiss compressor manufacturer. Jointly with his wife Inga Carus, Peter started CL Enterprises in 2010 as a family investment company and enjoys building new and creative businesses and creating jobs. Together, Peter and Inga spend a great deal of their time looking for new ways of developing properties and companies to create jobs in the Starved Rock Country region and beyond, which include investing in the arts, businesses, education, and tourism.

Inga Carus

Co-Founder

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Inga Carus

Inga began her career with Air Products and Chemicals (APCI), where she served in ex-patriot positions in German speaking regions of Europe. After five years in Europe, Inga repatriated and joined Carus Corporation, initially in Sales and commercial roles, after which she became CEO and served as Chief Executive of Carus for 10 years, until 2015. Today, she leads the company as Executive Chairman, and continues to serve in an active role, leading the strategic growth of the company. Inga has a BA in Chemistry, and an MBA in Finance and Marketing, both from the University of Chicago. Inga is a member of the board of the American Chemistry Council, and serves on the boards of the Hegeler Carus Foundation, and the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation. Together with her husband Peter, Inga created CL Enterprises as a family investment company. In this role she is actively involved in the strategic direction of the company, including both current investments as well as exploring the new and creative ideas that her husband comes up with on a regular basis. Together, Peter and Inga spend a great deal of their time looking for new ways of creating jobs in the Starved Rock Country region and beyond, which include investing in the arts, businesses, education, and tourism.

Hinesh Patel

Chief Executive Officer

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Hinesh Patel

Hinesh joined CL Enterprises in November 2021 as the company’s first President. A graduate of North Carolina State University, Hinesh earned a degree in Chemical Engineering, and also holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Throughout his career he has held high level leadership roles with world-class organizations such as Honeywell, Eaton and Egon Zehnder. He is deeply experienced in general management for global companies, with particular strengths in business management, strategy, operations, and corporate development.

Matt Ptacek

Chief Financial Officer

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Matt Ptacek

Matt Ptacek has deep and comprehensive financial expertise, having spent the early part of his career as a cost analyst, a financial analyst, a business analyst, and a plant Controller with Kimberly Clark. Matt earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is married with two grown daughters.

Prior to joining CL Enterprises, Matt served as Chief Financial Officer for TH Foods in Loves Park, IL. and worked for Advanced Integration Technology, a Private Equity company in Texas as CFO.

Matt Scholes

Chief Marketing Officer

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Matt Scholes

Born and raised in the UK Matt has become a true citizen of the world, having spent much of his career working on international brands for blue chip clients across all continents. A veteran of large agency networks Matt has held many C-Suite positions, including leading the Kellogg account globally for both J Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett, performing a similar role at McCann Erickson for Nestle, as well as office leadership of JWT Toronto and Two By Four agency, Chicago. Though informed by data and technology Matt remains most inspired by creative ideas and their ability to ignite the growth trajectory of even well-established businesses. The part of his job he most enjoys is helping clients identify and tell their own unique brand stories in ways which disrupt and create conversations. When not working Matt writes songs and poetry. He is a committed fan of Liverpool FC, a serious rugby enthusiast, and a notably bad golfer. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife, trying to keep tabs on his three children who are completing their educations in Canada and the UK.

Cindy Akins

Chief Human Resources Officer

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Cindy Akins

Cindy is a Human Resources Executive with over 25 years of global and domestic human resources experience. She is a true generalist with deep experience in workforce engagement, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition and development, change management, and employee communications. She loves building talent strategies which help drive business growth.

Cindy most recently worked as an independent HR consultant focused on the small to mid-size business market. Her previous corporate experience includes organizations of all sizes, both public and private, in a variety of industries. She has a Master’s Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from Loyola University in Chicago and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Illinois. In her free time, Cindy enjoys boating, yoga, reading, and spending time with her husband and kids.

Barry Whited

Controller

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Barry Whited

Barry has a BS in Accounting from Bradley University and an MBA from Lewis University. Barry started his accounting career as a staff accountant at Beck Oil Company. Over the last twenty-eight years, Barry has worked in an accounting role with increasing responsibilities, including the last fifteen years as a controller.

He has worked in various accounting roles in the following industries; bank accounting and commercial lending, corporate accounting, manufacturing controller, retail, service, restaurant, and construction accounting. Barry started with Carus Group in April of 2015 then transferred to CL Enterprises in January of 2017.

Barry has worked for thirty years as an Adjunct Professor at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Illinois. He teaches in the fields of Accounting, Business and Economics.

Billy Quesse

Principal Technologist

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Billy Quesse

As our resident technologist, Billy, a veteran Software Engineer, brings to the table creative solutions in all areas of our portfolio. Having grown up in the heart of Starved Rock Country, he has a passion for the small-town revival that is part of CL’s general vision. After living out West, he was drawn back home, where he joined the CL team.

He has a B.S. in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and resides in Spring Valley with his wife Gracelyn and their two dogs – Phoebe and Adaline(Della). In his free time he enjoys stargazing, is an avid maker, and tends to a garden of hot peppers. Each year, he drops off the radar for most of November and emerges with his annual Christmas light show.

Matthew Klein

Senior Marketing Specialist

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Matthew Klein

Matthew Klein graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bradley University Foster College of Business with a B.S. in Business Management and Leadership and a minor in Marketing. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administration. While at Bradley, Matthew received first place in multiple innovation competitions, and an official proclamation for his entrepreneurial abilities from Bradley President Stephen Standifird and City of Peoria, IL Mayor Rita Ali.

Matthew joined CL Enterprises (CLE) in 2021. He assists the Chief Marketing Officer with on-going marketing operations and future growth objectives across the CLE corporate brand. He also works with internal teams to create and execute brand building strategies and marketing activities for CLE’s diverse portfolio of companies.

Growing up in the Illinois Valley, a collection of small communities with distinctive characteristics, the art of storytelling and perspectives has always been a fundamental principle to Matthew. His passion and desire to create led him to found his creative video production company at the age of 17.

In 2021, his video work was included and credited in an HBO original documentary produced by Unrealistic Productions, a Mark Wahlberg company. Matthew has created over 500 films for a wide range of public and private entities.

In his spare time, Matthew enjoys photographing nature, flying drones, hiking at National Parks, and spending time with his friends and family. There’s also a good chance of running into him at the local coffee shop.

Business Leaders

Robert Davidson

President, Alexander Chemical

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Robert Davidson

Robert Davidson majored in Business and Finance at Indiana State University and has over 23 years experience in Sales Management, Business Development and Operational leadership. He has held various leadership roles in Manufacturing, Specialty Industrial Services, Chemical Manufacturing and Distribution. Robert worked heavily in Energy, Industrial Manufacturing and Oil & Gas managing routine maintenance, Turn-around and Capital Build activities across North America as well as running Industrial and Chemical plant operations and commercial activities.

Jayson Wilson

President of Revv Aviation

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Jayson Wilson

Jayson Wilson is the President of Revv Aviation.

He has been around aviation is entire life. His dad was a crop duster aviator and Jayson grew up on an FBO, so he understands and shares the passion that Revv is trying to recreate with its expanding footprint. He is excited to have the opportunity to help shape a company that’s creating something new and different in the aviation sector. Over the years, in business and with the military, Jayson has had the good fortune to work in almost every aspect of the aviation industry, from combat to expeditionary to air cargo and charter, he is privy to worldwide enterprises, not only as a leader, but as an operator.

The opportunity to lead Revv, with its full suite of services, its small-town focus, and its entrepreneurial vision, felt like the perfect opportunity for Jayson to draw on all those different experiences.

He is a 2015 Inductee and member of the ICAS Foundation Airshow Hall of Fame (Red Baron Formation Aerobatic Team) Red Baron Squadron. He is an accomplished aviation executive with extensive experience, and a proven operations and P/L multiplier with regards to austere and high-risk operational areas and conventional commercial aviation. He has served 27 years as the President and COO of Carolina Aerobatics, LLC, an aerobatic training company specializing in competition and airshow flying disciplines.

Jayson served honorably and nobly for 25 years as an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army with numerous combat tours in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Keith Pearse

CEO, TRBC Brewing & Chicago Beer Company

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Keith Pearse

With a passion for beer and deep roots in the industry, Keith was a catalyst in the formation of Tangled Roots Brewing Company when he arrived in Starved Rock Country with aspirations to create a local craft brewery in 2014. Having been quickly introduced to Peter Limberger with similar ambitions, it took only days to kick-off what is today an able and ambitious player in craft beer celebrating the nature, diversity and passion of its people and community. Keith came from an 11-year tenure at SABMiller, a leading global brewing company, and brings experience ranging from designing and building breweries, to M&A and business development in Europe & the Americas and finally to commercial strategy and general management of multimillion-dollar brewery operations in South America. In a challenging and constantly evolving market, Keith’s broad industry experience makes him ideal to lead a talented Tangled Roots team in all strategic, commercial and operational endeavors with a clear focus on sustainable value creation.

Blake Rohrabaugh

CEO, Tangled Roots Brewing Co.

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Blake Rohrabaugh

Blake Rohrabaugh was born and raised on the mean streets of Northbrook, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois in Champaign- Urbana and received a Bachelor’s Degree in History. But more importantly, while in school he was given his first bartending job at a local campus bar, where he quickly picked up and mastered the art of tending bar.

In 2003, Blake joined Bar Louie in Chicago. During his tenure with Bar Louie, he helped grow the company from 11 locations to 150 as General Manager, Director of NSOs, VP of Beverage Innovation, and VP of Operations.

Restaurant and bar operations are his life’s passions, with emphasis on guest satisfaction, amazing food and beverage offerings, and a true dedication to Hospitality.

Blake currently lives in Northbrook, Il with his wife Nicole and three children. When not working, he is a cocktail enthusiast, loves fishing and kayaking, listening to The Grateful Dead and Phish, and is hopeless supporter of both Manchester United and the Chicago Cubs. And he is still a great bartender!

Nathan Watson

President & CEO, CL Real Estate

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Nathan Watson

Nathan approaches real estate development with an entrepreneurial mindset. Whether it is identifying new project opportunities or finding creative design solutions, he is always searching for a better way to do things. He has an extensive background in real estate acquisition, project finance, building and community design, and historic renovations. Nathan’s assignments have included a 4,800 Acre Master Planned Community on the Gulf Coast and a 72 Acre mixed-use urban riverfront redevelopment project in New Orleans, through which he led or participated in the development of luxury apartments, hotels, retail, office, and infrastructure projects. Earlier in his career, he started a bank-owned for-profit community development corporation and his own development business. Projects included historic restorations, affordable multi-family housing, and new residential community development. He studied Architecture and Real Estate Finance, completing a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Auburn University and a MBA from Columbia University. Nathan is married to Michelle Watson and relocated to Illinois in December 2015 to organize and lead CL Real Estate Development, including the Kaskaskia Hotel and Conference Center and a growing portfolio of creative adaptive reuse and new construction projects.

Michelle Christ

President of Starved Rock Wood Products

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Michelle Christ

Michelle is proud now to be leading Starved Rock Wood Products, having joined in 2022 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the team, she held senior financial leadership roles at MoboTrex and Terso Solutions. As President, Michelle’s focus is on creating a future-facing organization and culture that can adapt to the growth the company is experiencing across the Midwest and Chicagoland markets in particular. She holds a BA in Accounting and an MBA.