Local Spotlight: Meet Don MacKenzie, Retired Boats Inc. Owner and Community Pillar

President and Owner of Boats Incorporated from 1989-2021, saving an 80 year old lobster named Larry in 2012, and coaching basketball for more than 25 years, local businessman Don MacKenzie has quite the local resume.

His story with Boats Incorporated starts in 1989. At the time, Mr. MacKenzie was working for Anheuser-Busch and he came up to Niantic to sponsor a local fishing tournament.

“Over the three day event, I fell in love with the business. I saw a lot of room for growth. I saw an opportunity. After the weekend of the tournament I was offered a position here,” Mr. MacKenzie said.

He took the offer and became the newest member of the sales department. He didn’t look back from there.

Mr. MacKenzie quickly realized when he first got to Boats Incorporated that the two partners who owned the business weren’t getting along. After realizing this, Mr. MacKenzie was offered by one of the owners to buy out the other. He agreed, and after only a couple of months at Boats Incorporated, he was now a part owner of the company.

In 2020, Mr. MacKenzie and his business partner realized that it was their time to sell the company. After 32-years, they officially sold the business, but Mr. MacKenzie wanted to stick around. He still comes into the office to help teach the new guys how to run the business.

“I still enjoy coming here every day. If you like coming to work, it’s not work. I love the company. I love the employees,” Mr.MacKenzie said.

Outside of work, Mr. MacKenzie enjoys volunteering his time. He has been coaching basketball at Ledyard, Old Saybrook, and East Lyme for over 25 years.

“I don’t have children, I have to find a way to pay it back. My family is all about basketball, my step-dad played basketball, my nephew is in the basketball industry, and my other nephew works for the Charlotte Hornets,” Mr. MacKenzie said.

Another aspect of Mr. MacKenzie helping his community was saving a 17-pound lobster named Larry. In 2012, Larry was up for auction and Mr. MacKenzie decided to take action.

He said that the lobster had lived too long to be eaten, won the auction, and went out onto the water, to an unknown location, and released Larry back to live in the wild.

One piece of advice Mr. MacKenzie has for the younger generation is you don’t have to be the top of the top to succeed in business.

He also mentioned that life is all about relationships, and the better relationships you have with people, the more successful you will become.

“The great part about this country is you can get into business yourself. You don’t have to be the valedictorian, you don’t have to be the salutatorian, you don’t have to have perfect SAT scores.”