Forty Under 40: John Scott Bull

Pace Industries’ culture led John Scott Bull to join the die casting company as director of marketing and sales manager in 2008. He went on to become national account manager for three years before being promoted to vice president of marketing. In 2013, he was promoted to vice president of sales.

The Fayetteville native works at the highest level in marketing and reports to the executive vice president of sales. Bull oversees 14 people, leading sales for the company’s four northern divisions. In the past four years, these divisions have landed more than $200 million in new business. The company has 12 divisions in the United States and Mexico.

“We shifted our focus and got aggressive with sales,” Bull said. “Harley-Davidson is our No.1 customer.” Other customers include automobile and all-terrain vehicle manufacturers, such as General Motors and Polaris, and virtual reality headset companies.

In 2016, Bull co-founded Colby Valve, a valve stem manufacturer for off-road vehicles. So far, the company has $200,000 in sales, and shipments didn’t start until March or April. For 2017, his sales goal is $1 million. In 2009, Bull co-founded Field Agent, a crowd-sourced retail information system. In 2007, when he worked at Rockfish Interactive, he helped to develop an internal website for Wal-Mart, allowing employees to share best practices.

In 2001, he started working for Northstar Partnering Group, and there, the highlight of his career was leading the team that planned and put on the first and largest single-day flu shot event at more than 8,000 Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target and Rite-Aid stores. In 1998, he established startup eUpgrade.com, a comparison shopping website.

Within the next five years, he hopes to see Pace at $800 million in sales.

In 2001, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Oklahoma. He’s a volunteer for JDRF and the Children’s Safety Center. He enjoys home brewing beer, saltwater aquariums, scuba diving and oceans.