Next generation taking over at Milwaukee model railroad company Walthers

Stacey Walthers Naffah will succeed her father as president of Wm. K. Walthers Inc., a Milwaukee model railroad company.

The company manufactures several lines of model trains and accessories. The firm is also a distributor and direct seller of model trains and related products from more than 200 manufacturers. 

The company has been family-owned since it started in 1932. Walthers Naffah will become the company's fourth president when she takes over in September.

Her father, Phil Walthers, joined the company in 1972 and has served as president since 1984. He will step away from day-to-day operations, but will remain chairman of the board and oversee special projects. 

"He has done an amazing job of growing this business and of changing this business into something that he probably couldn't have imagined back when he first started," Walthers Naffah said. "I have a high level of respect for my dad and what he has accomplished, so I want and need his good counsel as we move forward."

Walthers Naffah said she was always interested in the family business growing up, but never felt obligated to someday take the lead. 

"If anything, we were encouraged to go out and explore and learn other things," Walthers Naffah said. "I just pursed things I was interested in, and my interests and this role wound up aligning." 

The importance of work-life balance was one of the reasons Walthers Naffah decided to join the family business nine years ago after working in marketing at other companies.

"I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, and I was trying to figure out that balance of how to be a working mom," Walthers Naffah said. 

She most recently served as vice president of sales and marketing, where she focused on developing and updating Walthers' brands and digital presence. 

She also worked with local hobby shops and train festivals to try to generate new interest in the hobby for people who may be looking for a way to spend less free time in front of a screen. 

"It's a good mix for those retailers we're talking to, and it's good for us as a manufacturer to think about how we can support that level of hands-on activity that could be a welcome relief in the age of technology," Walthers Naffah said. 

Both Walthers Naffah and her father believe model railroading to be a timeless hobby that can appeal to people with a variety of different interests.

"It's a hobby where, depending on the individual and what their interest is, they can go in almost any direction and find something that is going to be creative and fulfilling," Walthers said. 

"We will continue to focus on our core model railroaders," Walthers Naffah said. "I also have high hopes we will crack this nut of figuring out how to get more people involved into this category and make it relevant, and dare I say, cool again."