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A native of Kansas City, Fred Ross founded Custom Truck One Source, which today earns more than $1 billion in annual revenue. In 2015, Ross partnered with his son and daughter to acquire Big Thunder Marina on Lake of the Ozarks. In 2016, Ross and partners acquired the assets of Fountain, Donzi, Baja and Pro-Line, and organized the performance boat brands under the Iconic Marine Group.

Tell us about your effort to bring new owners to the sportboat segment.

Some excitement has been lost from this market. We are going to bring back the Fountain 35 Lightning with a new deck, new dash and new interior, so it will not look like your uncle’s Lightning. With 430 hp engines, that boat will run 85 mph, and you can get an eight-year warranty on it. It’s going to cost about $260,000, and that’s a lot of speed and boat for the price. We’ll offer it with 565 hp engines for about $310,000, and it will run over 100 mph.

How do you differentiate Baja, Donzi and Fountain? Baja will be true to its original core—sport style, sterndrive. They’ll be fast, but don’t need to be the fastest. They won’t have a step-hull, so anybody can drive the boat. Donzi is a gentleman’s sportboat—more of a refined interior, more comfort and styling. Fountain will be focused on performance and advanced technology, with very efficient hulls. We’ll offer blood-and-guts fish boats, and also fish boats with luxury and comfort. They are fast and dry, and get outstanding economy.