By Julie Clack
Fifty years of success is no accident. For RAE Products & Chemicals Corp., it is the direct result of an unwavering commitment to three core values — Professionalism, Dependability, and Quality — and a family culture that has grown deeper with every passing decade. What began in a Chicago home in 1976 has evolved into one of the most respected names in the traffic and pavement marking industry, with a global customer base, a rapidly expanding manufacturing footprint, and three generations of the Gruenberg family at the helm.
RAE’s founder, president, and guiding force, Donna Rae Gruenberg, has been the heart of the operation since day one. For those who may be wondering: no, she has no plans to slow down. “I am not retiring,” Donna states plainly, with the same direct confidence that has defined her leadership for half a century. “This company is my life’s work, and I am more energized about our future than ever.”
That future is being built on a foundation that stretches back to 1976, when Donna incorporated RAE and began selling traffic and industrial paint from the family home. Donna’s stepson Guy personally delivered those first shipments. The philosophy was simple then and remains simple now: stock more paint than anyone else, turn it over quickly so it stays fresh, and get it to customers fast — “PDQ,” or “pretty darn quick,” as Donna has always put it.
A Decade of Expansion
The last ten years have brought transformative growth to RAE. The company acquired 1-800-STENCIL one of the largest stencil suppliers in the United States, adding a powerful new division to an already broad product portfolio. RAE has simultaneously doubled its production facility capacity and is now preparing for its most ambitious move yet: the relocation of its entire operation to a new space three times the size of the current production facility, situated within the same manufacturing complex adjacent to RAE’s corporate headquarters. The expansion is not just physical — it is a statement of intent.
“Every time we grow, we grow with purpose,” says Samantha Morek, RAE’s executive vice president. “We are not just adding square footage — we are investing in our ability to serve customers better, faster, and with a broader range of products than ever before.”
RAE remains a dominant force in supplying a broad range of traffic and zone marking paints, and the 1-800-STENCIL acquisition has firmly established the company among the nation’s elite stencil providers. Beyond paint and stencils, RAE has grown into a major supplier of thermoplastic pavement marking materials and has become an industry leader in MMA (Methyl Methacrylate) paints — offering both product supply and hands-on training. The company is also the exclusive dealer for the CEMAR Road Dryer, a specialized piece of equipment that reflects RAE’s commitment to providing contractors with complete solutions rather than just materials.
“We remain the ‘PDQ’ people.
That will never change.”
— Donna Rae Gruenberg, President and Founder, RAE Products & Chemicals Corp.
Fifty Years, Three Generations
What may be most remarkable about RAE’s story is not the revenue growth or the facility expansions — it is the family. RAE now employs approximately 40 people, and nearly half of them share a last name or a bloodline with the founder. Three generations of the Gruenberg family are actively shaping the business every single day.
Donna’s son Kurt Gruenberg, who first joined RAE as a teenager in 1984, now serves as vice president and plays an essential role in new product development. Kurt and his team keep RAE at the cutting edge of product innovation, testing longer-lasting paints, and next-generation MMA systems. Kurt’s stepsons contribute as well, creating content for RAE’s own websites and maintaining the company’s strong presence on Grainger — a platform where RAE has twice been honored with a “Best Small Business” award.
Donna’s granddaughter Samantha Morek, has stepped into a pivotal leadership role, overseeing all financial operations under Donna’s direction. Her husband, Keil Morek, runs incoming orders and logistics — a critical function given RAE’s scale and reach — with help from several of Samantha’s brothers, who work in stencil production and warehousing. The integration of the 1-800-STENCIL operation into the RAE family is, in many ways, a mirror of the company itself: built on trust, driven by family, and focused on getting the job done right.
Samantha’s contributions extend far beyond the balance sheet. In recent years, she spearheaded the migration of RAE’s financial systems from Sage 50 Accounting to a customized implementation of NetSuite, giving the company an enterprise-grade platform capable of scaling alongside its rapid growth. She plays an active role in investment decisions, ensuring RAE’s capital is deployed strategically and with an eye toward the long term. Perhaps just as importantly, she is a steadfast guardian of the culture Donna built — the values, the work ethic, and the people-first philosophy that have defined this company for five decades. If the first fifty years belonged to Donna, the next fifty are being shaped, in no small part, by Samantha.
Donna’s other children — Sherry, Guy, and Lisa — each hold key roles within the company as well. Guy now leads RAE’s internal marketing department alongside Julie, a full-time content provider who manages both the RAE ProStores and the 1-800-STENCIL websites. Together, they drive a digital presence that has turned a suburban Chicago paint company into a supplier capable of reaching customers in Australia, Tibet, Mongolia, Canada, and UK.
Invaluable sales support and customer service are backed by longtime family friends Mark and Jessica Keele and Lizzy Cichowicz. All three have been part of the RAE family in one form or another for over 20 years. With their experience, they possess an unparalleled depth of knowledge and industry expertise. This long-standing commitment translates directly into seamless service, trusted advice, and a level of continuity that our clients have come to rely on year after year.
“As you can see, we truly are a family business,” says Donna. “And I mean that in every sense of the word. These are not just employees — they are my family, and this company is their future as much as it is mine.”
Product Leadership, Proven Performance
The breadth of RAE’s product and service offering today would be almost unrecognizable to the contractors who placed those first orders back in 1976 — and yet the DNA is identical. RAE supplies traffic and zone marking paints of every variety, thermoplastic pavement marking materials, MMA paints and application training, preformed markings, 3M marking tapes, masonry and graffiti cover-up paints, stencils through 1-800-STENCIL, Graco Plural Component Spray equipment, and glass beads.
As the exclusive U.S. dealer for the CEMAR Road Dryer, RAE ensures its contractor customers can work in conditions that would otherwise bring a job to a halt.
The company’s five fully stocked warehouses remain central to its competitive advantage. “Most paint suppliers don’t inventory their paint the way we do,” Samantha has long maintained. More stock means fresher paint, faster delivery, and no compromise on quality — the same logic that made RAE successful in year one still applies in year fifty.
The Next Fifty Years
The pending move to a facility three times the size of current production is more than a logistical upgrade. It is the physical embodiment of where RAE is headed: more capacity, more product lines, more employees, and a stronger platform from which to serve the evolving needs of pavement marking contractors across the country and around the world.
With Donna still driving strategy and culture, Kurt advancing product development, and Samantha managing the financial backbone of the enterprise, the Gruenberg family succession is not a future event — it is happening right now, organically, the way things tend to happen in a family business that actually works.
“Having a lasting reputation is more important than short-term profit,” Donna Gruenberg reflects. “We stand by our products 100%. Our customers, our distributors, and our long-term future depend on it.”
The product pipeline reflects that same forward momentum. In 2026, RAE will be releasing a new comprehensive floor coating line, expanding the company’s reach beyond pavement and into the industrial and commercial flooring market — a natural extension of the expertise RAE has built over five decades. This launch underscores what has always set RAE apart: the willingness to invest in what comes next, not just what works today.
Fifty years in, RAE Products & Chemicals Corp. is not resting on its legacy. It is building on it — one family member, one product, one satisfied customer at a time. If history is any guide, the next fifty years will be just as impressive.
“I can see RAE with continued success for 50 more years, and more.”
— Donna Rae Gruenberg
For more information on Rae’s products and services, please visit https://rae-products.com.
