Misfit Social Podcast — Episode 505 | Featuring Rob Doner, Senior Buyer & Procurement Specialist at Tungco
Some of the best hires don’t come from job boards. They come from Christmas Day conversations, a handshake at a bar, and the willingness to bet on someone you already trust.
That’s exactly how Rob Doner ended up at Tungco — and it’s one of the most compelling stories we’ve told on the Misfit Social podcast.
Recorded live at EMO, one of Europe’s largest manufacturing trade shows, this episode of the Misfit Social Podcast sits Rob down alongside Tungco CEO Cliff Nance, Paul Cook, and Royce Wilson for a conversation about grit, family, trust, and what it really takes to build lasting supplier relationships in the tungsten recycling industry.
A Rocky Start on Peewee Lake
Before Rob Doner was Tungco’s top buyer, he was a teenager marrying into the Nance family — specifically, Cliff’s cousin. And Cliff, at just fifteen years old, had some feelings about that.
As Cliff tells it, he invited Rob out fishing on Peewee Lake in Madisonville, Kentucky. Within minutes, he pointed three fingers at him and said, plain as day: “I don’t like you.”
No warm-up. No small talk. Just honesty over a fishing pole.
That moment — equal parts hilarious and painfully direct — became the foundation for one of the strongest working relationships in Tungco’s history. It just took a few decades of growth, some hard seasons, and a pivotal Christmas Day to get there.
From Youth Ministry to the Coal Mines
Rob’s career path didn’t follow a straight line — and that’s exactly what makes his story worth telling.
He spent years in youth ministry alongside Misfit Social co-host Paul Cook in Ohio, where the two first crossed paths in the late 1990s. He was bi-vocational, balancing ministry with a career in banking. When he eventually left the ministry, banking remained his anchor.
But life has a way of testing people. When Rob and his family hit a rough patch financially, he got certified to work in the coal mines, pulling weekend shifts underground while driving to Columbus during the week for other work. It was survival mode — the kind of season that either breaks you or builds something unshakable inside you.
For Rob, it built grit.
A Christmas Day That Changed Everything
It was Christmas 2013. Rob and his family were visiting the Nance home in Madisonville, Kentucky. Cliff noticed something was off, walked into the living room, and asked Rob how things were going.
Rob broke down.
Cliff grabbed his keys and said, “Come on, let’s go.”
They drove to the Green Dragon — a local spot — sat at the bar, and talked. Not about tungsten. Not about business. About life. About what comes next when everything feels like it’s falling apart.
Then Cliff drove Rob out to the Tungco property on Anton Road and asked if he’d be interested in coming to work. Rob and his wife drove home, bought Christmas for the kids, and started talking about making the move. By the end of March 2014, they had relocated to Madisonville.
Rob told Cliff he was going to be the best buyer Tungco ever had.
Over a decade later, that promise has been fulfilled — and then some.
What Makes a Great Tungsten Buyer
Rob came into Tungco green. He didn’t know tungsten from titanium. But he knew people. He knew relationships. And in an industry where trust is currency, that turned out to be the most valuable skill on his resume.
When asked about what procurement looks like at Tungco, Rob didn’t talk about algorithms or bidding platforms. He talked about knocking on doors. Driving to supplier shops. Asking about their kids before ever asking about material. Building relationships that sometimes take years — even nine years, in some cases — before a single pound is purchased.
“95% of this role is relationships,” Rob said on the podcast. “The other 5% is the job itself. You can learn the job. You can’t learn relationships.”
That philosophy is at the heart of how Tungco does business. It’s what separates Tungco from competitors who try to close deals over text messages and emails. Rob gets in his car. He shows up. Whether a supplier has 200 pounds a year or three truckloads, he treats them the same.
“You have to be willing to do what other people won’t do,” Rob explained. “In today’s age, a lot of people try to do business over text and email. But getting in your car, going to their shop — people aren’t doing that.”
A Father-Son Duo on the Procurement Team
One of the most rewarding chapters of Rob’s Tungco journey is working alongside his son, Nathaniel Doner.
Nate’s path mirrors a lot of what Tungco values: he wasn’t a traditional “first-round draft pick.” He didn’t go straight from high school to college. Instead, he joined the National Guard, completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and went on to finish Air Assault School at Fort Campbell — one of the most demanding military leadership programs in the country.
After starting at Tungco in production, then moving to logistics, Nate transitioned to the procurement team, where he’s been working alongside his dad for over a year. The military instilled discipline, leadership, and work ethic — the same intangibles that Tungco looks for when building its team.
As Cliff put it on the podcast, watching the Doner father-son duo work together is one of the most rewarding things happening at the company. “There’s really probably not much like getting to work with your kids every day,” he said.
Why Tungco Doesn’t Just Hire Resumes
Rob’s story prompted one of the most insightful conversations in this episode: how do you identify the right person for the job when their stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story?
Cliff drew a parallel to the NFL Draft. First-round picks bust all the time. Meanwhile, someone like Tom Brady — drafted in the sixth round — goes on to become the greatest of all time. The lesson? Intangibles matter. Grit matters. Character matters. Emotional intelligence matters.
“If all we looked at was his stat sheet, we’d probably never hire him,” Cliff admitted about Rob. “And then I would have passed on the best buyer that we’ve ever had.”
That insight helped reshape how Tungco approaches recruiting. It became part of the conversation that led to the company’s 10 Truths — a set of cultural values that Rob himself helped develop around 2018-2019. The focus shifted from credentials to character, from resumes to relationships, from what someone has done to who someone is.
Trust, Tenacity, and the Long Game
If there’s one theme that runs through this entire episode, it’s the idea that trust isn’t transacted — it’s built. Slowly. Intentionally. Over time.
Rob talked about suppliers he called on for nine years before buying a single pound of tungsten from them. He visited them annually, emailed regularly, and sought them out at trade shows. Not to be annoying — but to stay top of mind and invest in the relationship account, not just the results account.
“If I come to you and knock on your door and ask how the kids are, and I immediately say, ‘Hey, do you have any material I can buy?’ — you feel that,” Rob said. “It cheapens it.”
That perspective — that people need to know they matter outside of results — is core to who Tungco is. It’s what CEO Cliff Nance means when he says the company is built on “relationships over transactions.” It’s the reason Rob drives hundreds of miles to visit a supplier with 200 pounds of scrap. And it’s why Tungco continues to grow as a global leader in tungsten carbide recycling.
Rob’s Misfit Pick: John Brown
Every episode of the Misfit Social Podcast closes with a question: name someone — living or not — who was a total misfit but had a real impact.
Rob’s answer? John Brown, the radical abolitionist who lost his life fighting for what he believed in. “History has shown he may just have been a prophet,” Rob said.
It’s a fitting choice for a guy who took the unconventional path — from ministry to banking to coal mines to becoming a world-class tungsten buyer. Sometimes the people who don’t fit the mold are exactly the ones who change the game.
About Tungco
Tungco is a global leader in tungsten carbide reclamation, supplying truckload quantities of recycled tungsten material to carbide producers and consumers worldwide. Founded by Steve Nance and now led by CEO Cliff Nance, Tungco operates from facilities and offices in Madisonville, Kentucky, Houston, Texas, Canada and Germany, serving industries worldwide including aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, energy, healthcare, and manufacturing.
With over 55 years in the tungsten recycling industry, Tungco specializes in purchasing tungsten carbide scrap — including grinding sludge, hard scrap, soft scrap, and powder — and converting it back into reusable raw material. Tungco’s procurement team is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable in the industry, and the company’s commitment to accurate processing, settlement, and payment has made it a trusted partner for suppliers around the world.
Tungco’s core values emphasize relationships, integrity, and a “Whatever It Takes” mentality. Whether you have 10 pounds or 200,000 pounds of tungsten scrap, Tungco is ready to provide a quote and prove why they’ve been the industry standard for more than five decades.
Ready to turn your tungsten scrap into revenue? Contact Tungco today for a price quote.
Listen to the Full Episode
Misfit Social Podcast — Episode 505: Rob Doner Available on Spreaker, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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