Malcolm Roebuck emigrated from the UK to Mexico in 1963 and then to the United States in 1966. A Mechanical and Production Engineer by trade, he had a passion for functional analysis. One day, he overheard an insurance salesman talking about a photo pin-back button who said, “If someone could make a machine to do this, they’d make a million bucks!” Fast forward 3 years and Malcolm invented a revolutionary badge-making machine. With the birth of Badge-A-Minit, which is also 100% made in America, he took the world by storm with millions of worldwide sales, developing a range of machines to suit every skill level and business scale, while staying true to his core values of practicality and affordability.
And that was just the beginning.
Badge-a-Minit was the beginning, but Malcolm Group Inc. is synonymous with more than just buttons. Our Best Impressions Catalog has provided tens of thousands of promotional products for fundraising, brand awareness, and everything in between, while our innovative pad-printing system, Imprintor, has been featured in tradeshows across the country.
Other projects include early horizontal drilling of oil wells in Texas, real estate projects, Black Angus cattle, waterslides, flying and aircraft leasing, marinas, ski resorts, RV campsites, Skin Care and a card counting hobby in Atlantic City, London, Monaco and Las Vegas. And we aren’t finished yet! Future and current projects include never-ending new product development, business consulting, Dementia research and volatility investment algorithms through Roebuck Systems.
Together with his son Michael, they run Malcolm Group today. Michael has worked with Malcolm Group in some capacity since College. He started working as a farm hand with the Black Angus cattle operation during summer breaks from college and continued full-time after college. In 1997 Michael was asked to serve on the Board of Directors and took a position with Badge-A-Minit as Marketing Director.
In 1999 Michael left Badge-A-Minit and started a boutique online search marketing and web design company where he grew and scaled the business to become one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the local area within a highly competitive market, generating millions of dollars in annual sales. He ensured both Malcolm Group companies as well as other customers’ continued profitability and success by personally expanding his role to become more involved in additional aspects of their businesses, including logistics, vendor/supplier sourcing, and customer service.
Michael sold his business in 2016 and returned to Malcolm Group full-time as VP Marketing & Operations. In 2019 he became President.
In 2024, Malcolm Group welcomed the third generation of leadership:
Nathan Kessel, Michael’s oldest son, took over Best Impressions and Imprintor. He also coordinates and oversees the books, banking, brand development and marketing.
Malcolm Roebuck (or Malcolm Jr.), Michael’s middle child, a production engineer, has a background in 3D modeling, programming, process auditing, Excel-based data analysis, and probability & statistics. He is integral with functional analysis and new product development.
If Michael and Grandpa have their way, another future team-member would include Zoe. Michael’s youngest and is currently studying to be a CPA. Because without Malcolm’s first CPA requiring him to learn how to read a financial statement, much of his success may not have been achieved.