1988 grad earns B.A. at St. Thomas and serves as VP of marketing at Roadware
Kelton Glewwe, 52, graduated from Inver Hills Community College in 1988 with an Associate of Arts (A.A.). Kelton went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Advertising and Marketing from the University of St. Thomas.
Today, Kelton is co-owner of Roadware Incorporated, a company in South St. Paul that manufactures and markets high-performance concrete repair materials. Kelton serves as the company’s vice president of marketing. Roadware’s headquarters opened in the Bridgepoint Business Park in 2004 and houses company offices along with a distribution center, production facility, chemistry lab and photography studio.
“Business, and especially B2B, is still a person-to-person operation,” Kelton said. “Even with all our tech and social media, it still comes down to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the customer. Gender, race, religion, ethnicity, status are irrelevant. I sell products to people in more than thirty countries with one thing in common: They have a problem and I have a solution.”
Kelton travels all over the world to meet with Roadware distributors, including such places as:
- New Zealand
- Mexico
- China
- Canada
- Australia
- Brazil
- Italy
- Norway
- Barbados
- Puerto Rico
“Norway was my first international business trip,” Kelton said. “Norway was dark and cold when I was there—colder than Minnesota. The trip wasn’t very successful, but I had an interesting time and learned a lot.”
Distributors are the core of Roadware’s business model and act as a force multiplier. On average, Kelton goes abroad twice a month to meet with distributors. South Korea is Roadware’s largest international market, and Kelton is looking forward to his first trip to Seoul.
“We provide a niche product, not a commodity,” Kelton said. “Our products repair damaged concrete in ten minutes. Airports all over the world use Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.”
More about Roadware Incorporated…
Roadware Inc., is a Minnesota based product-engineering, marketing and manufacturing firm specializing in formulating, blending and packaging polyurethanes, polyureas, hybrid polymers and adhesives for industrial and commercial applications.
Established in 1991, Roadware has been instrumental in providing performance driven solutions for concrete repair and restoration.
Learn more…
Roadware Inc. gallery
More about Kelton…
Kelton grew up in South St. Paul, Minnesota, and graduated from South St. Paul High School in 1985. While attending Inver Hills, he worked as a photographer for the IHCC Newspaper.
“That was before desktop publishing and useful computers,” he said. “We laid out the galleys manually on paper.”
Kelton’s wife, Judith, works as a child support specialist for Dakota County in Inver Grove Heights. Kelton and Judith have two children, Clarissa, 25, who works for Loot Hive in Bloomington as a reconditioner, and Blake, 20, a sophomore at Inver Hills majoring in Engineering Fundamentals with plans to become a civil engineer. Blake just started his new role as a physics tutor at the college. The family recently lost a 12-year-old black tortoiseshell cat named Twilight.
Kelton’s father, Rollin B. Glewwe, served District 12 in the Minnesota State Senate from 1967–1972. Senator Glewwe was instrumental in helping establish Inver Hills Community College in 1970. The Glewwe¹ family has a long, successful history operating businesses in South St. Paul, including food markets and a motor company.
“Many times you don’t end up in the business you first launched. We started out selling asphalt and polyurethane, but our company evolved. We adapted to the market and emerging opportunities.
“Small businesses are much better at adapting to change; large businesses find responding to change more difficult due to inertia. Roadware is still evolving, and we are still learning and adapting to the marketplace.”
Kelton Glewwe, Vice President of Marketing, Roadware Inc.
Inver Hills Alumnus, Class of 1988
Kelton’s brother, Scott, is the president of Roadware and handles the product chemistry aspects of the business. Two of Kelton’s sisters, LouAnn Goossens and Rae Marie Trisko, attended Inver Hills in the 1970s back when business classes were tuition-free. Both were exceptionally active in the college’s Theatre department as actors and production designers. LouAnn works as the controller at Roadware.
Kelton’s has another sister, Barbara O’Brien, who is a commercial photographer specializing in emotive animal photography. She just published a new book called Dogface.
In his free time, Kelton enjoys working with the Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps coordinating large events. He worked on the Sounds of Minnesota Annual Drum Corps Show in the past and now does planning for March On! Kelton played snare and tenor drum for Minnesota Brass from 1987–1990, and he is active with the Minnesota Brass Alumni Group, which ranges in age from 18–70. He reported that Minnesota Brass is partnering with Inver Hills and practices on the college’s campus.
Today, Kelton plays on a drum set and is a fill-in drummer for Brio Brass. He enjoys photography, covering weddings and shooting product displays. He also enjoys auto repair and restoring antique garden tractors.
“I have two restored Cub Cadets, a 1963 and 1967,” he said. “They are much heavier and sturdier than the newer model tractors, and I still mow with them.”
Kelton and Judith reside in Inver Grove Heights.
¹ Pronunciation: Glewwe rhymes with Chevy.
More about the A.A. at Inver Hills…
Our #1 transfer degree
The A.A. degree is an ideal choice if you are planning on transferring to a four-year college or university. You will save money and have the added advantage of working one on one with your instructors.
A.A. Program Planning Guide
The A.A. degree is 60 credits and contains three parts:
Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC) : 40 credits
Health & Physical Education: 2 credits
Electives: 18 creditsAssociate of arts with emphasis
The A.A. with Emphasis allows you to thoroughly prepare yourself for your chosen major at corresponding bachelor’s degree programs at several public and private four-year colleges and universities. We strongly recommend that you work with an Inver Hills counselor or advisor when making your transfer plans.
Emphasis areas
Anthropology
Gender and Women Studies
Political ScienceTransfer Pathways
Transfer Pathways are curriculum plans which provide an associate degree to seamlessly transfer into a related degree plan at any one of the seven Minnesota State universities to obtain a bachelor’s degree.
Upon completion of a Transfer Pathway degree you will be guaranteed junior status upon admission to the university, and are assured that the bachelor’s degree can be completed in 60 additional credits (for 120-credit programs). You must still meet any special admission requirement for the major and are not guaranteed admission into the major itself.
Inver Hills offers the following Transfer Pathway A.A. degrees
Communication Studies (Transfer Pathway A.A.)
Economics (Transfer Pathway A.A.)
History (Transfer Pathway A.A.)
Political Science (Transfer Pathway A.A.)
Psychology (Transfer Pathway A.A.)
Mathematics (Transfer Pathway A.A.)Learn more…
Kelton Glewwe gallery
Kelton Glewwe • Q & A
Why did you choose Inver Hills?
Location, cost, and I could work part-time while I attended school.
What advice would you give students thinking about making business their career path?
Business, sales and entrepreneurship all have an excellent future. There are fantastic opportunities in business-to-business sales that you never would have guessed existed. A good salesperson can always sell themselves and get a job.
Take any sales job you can find and learn that skill. It can be phone sales, door-to-door, retail, eBay selling, or Facebook Marketplace. It does not matter. Selling skills will apply to every business career.
How did Rusty Mitchell influence your career choices?
Rusty is first and foremost a salesman. I believe he got his start in ad specialties.
What do you like best about your VP role at Roadware Incorporated?
VP is just a title you get when you have co-owners in a small business. My role at Roadware is to inspire a team of talented individuals to develop innovative products, processes and manufacturing that we can market and sell worldwide. I have to wear a lot of hats, from product marketing and graphic designer to field trainer and product demonstrator. What I like best is developing customer relationships all around the world.
Three words that describe you as a business professional:
PERSISTENT. INNOVATIVE. FAIR.
Who do you most admire in the world of business and why?
Elon Musk—he’s a tremendous innovator and reminds me of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and Henry Ford. They were also controversial in their day.
Why should business leaders be involved in their local communities?
The local community is a great way to learn about people. During college, I joined the local Jaycees and learned how to run successful community projects like a charity Haunted House or a community Sandbox Days.
Later in business, I joined the River Heights Chamber of Commerce to make local contacts and meet other business persons. As I got more involved in the chamber of commerce, I was learning from the experiences of my fellow chamber members and was able to incorporate that knowledge into my own business.
Eventually, I took on a leadership role with the River Heights Chamber of Commerce, serving as chair in 2014–2015, and I remain on the chamber’s board of directors.
My advice is volunteer to do a skill you are not completely comfortable with. Use volunteer opportunities to challenge yourself. If you are a shy person, volunteer to be a greeter at an event. If you hate calling people on the phone, offer to make phone calls. Get better by doing it.
One word that best describes your experience at Inver Hills:
BUSY
Kelton Glewwe • 12 Answers
- Favorite sport or physical activity: Golf and working out at Anytime Fitness
- Place you would most like to visit:
Saint Petersburg, Russia - The most exciting thing you’ve ever done: Saw the Terracotta Army while on a business trip in China.
- Three things you would do if you won a $1 billion lottery: 1) Take care of family 2) Start another business 3) Donate to causes I care about
- Favorite TV show you’re watching now: Undercover Billionaire
- Best movie you’ve seen lately: Solo: A Star Wars Story—I don’t get out to movies much.
- One thing you most want to accomplish in life: Financial security for my family.
Your national bird if you could have one: Big Bird!- Dream occupation: I’m in it.
- Person you would most like to meet: President Trump
- Skill you would most like to learn and master: Play the piano.
- Most important issue or problem facing humankind: Biased news media directed to what the individual wants to see and hear. The news you see on your device is customized to get you to click something. It does not have to be factual or truthful. All it has to do is get you to click something. That is the business model that pays for our news and it is dangerous to society.
Learn more about earning an Associate of Arts (A.A.) at Inver Hills by contacting:
Admissions Team
651-450-3000
College Center
Learn more about Business and Accounting programs at Inver Hills by contacting:
Hamid Kazeroony, DM, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Business Faculty
651-450-3474
