Lakeside Companies

Lakeside Companies

John J. Hemmingson founded Lakeside Companies in 1997 as a lean, opportunistic vehicle to pursue regional investments that could add jobs and industry to the Inland Northwest. The firm traces its initial capital to the early success of portfolio holdings including Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) and PetrolinkUSA, which later became Reliable Industrial Group. Rather than managing third-party capital, Lakeside operates as a family-owned proprietary investor, holding assets indefinitely and recycling gains into new ventures. Today the portfolio spans direct private equity, real estate development, farmland, and industrial manufacturing. Real estate holdings run through Architerra Homes, Coeur Development, and Kootenai County Land Company, with projects including the 440-acre Coeur Terre mixed-use development in Coeur d'Alene. The firm controls Rainier Seeds in Davenport, Washington, and owns over 1,050 acres of land for future community development. On the manufacturing side, portfolio company ATC Manufacturing supplies thermoplastic composite components to Boeing and holds a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract for high-rate thermoplastic composites. Lakeside has also historically deployed capital into local bank equity and industrial services, the latter crystallized when Reliable Industrial Group partnered with ExxonMobil before its sale to Blue Wolf Performance Solutions. The firm operates from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with a presence extending into Spokane, Washington, where it owns the former Triumph Composite Systems building. In 2025, Lakeside named David Weeks as CEO while founder John J. Hemmingson became Chairman, signaling a deliberate succession structure. The same year, the Journal of Business named Hemmingson its 2025 Business Leader of the Year for his influence across education, aerospace, and construction. The firm added nine Associate Partners in a leadership expansion designed to support both Lakeside Companies and the underlying operating entities. Lakeside's structural differentiator is its hybrid of an operating company and a permanent-hold family investment office. It does not raise funds or exit positions on a fund-cycle timeline; instead it directly owns homebuilders, seed suppliers, and advanced-manufacturing plants, embedding itself in regional economic development. This architecture gives it an unusually patient-liability posture compared to private equity firms that must return capital to limited partners within a decade.