by Thea Engst, Exhibit City News
Premier Displays & Exhibits specializes in making spaces for tradeshows, events, and hospitality into unforgettable works of art and function. The team utilizes their in-house woodworking, welding, paint, powder coating, 3D printing, laser jets, water jets, and new graphic designs departments in their new facility in Vegas to fulfill custom customer needs. “If you dream it, we can make it!” says General Manager Efrain Dominguez reflecting the team’s innovative spirit.
Dominguez, who has spent a decade shaping Premier’s success, sat down with Exhibit City News to share insights on the company’s growth, his recent promotion to General Manager, and the passion that drives him to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Starting as an engineer in Premier’s sheet metal department, Dominguez quickly became a jack-of-all-trades. “I did a little bit of everything,” he recalls. He mastered complex machinery and software, skills that would lay the foundation for his rise as the company grew—and so did his role.
Dominguez’s natural ability and love for tinkering and problem-solving didn’t go unnoticed. “It’s kind of cool—I get paid to do what I love,” he says with a smile. As he refined his skills and gained new ones, Dominguez worked his way through multiple departments, ever-learning and evolving with the company he loves so much. Today, he balances roles as a leader, innovator, and problem-solver as a key player in Premier’s creative process.
These days, Dominguez is often found setting up advanced equipment and overseeing intricate builds. “I love how we do everything. It gives us the freedom for creativity as far as how a specific build is going to look and what angle you’re going to attack something from. “Days in this industry aren’t often the same though, and it’s just one aspect that,” he says. Every day brings new challenges, which is exactly what keeps an active learner like Dominguez engaged and inspired.
Because in this industry don’t often repeat themselves, it’s just one aspect that keeps an active learner and lifelong tinkerer like Dominguez happy. “My days are always different,” he said, “sometimes I’m in the office answering emails and taking meetings, and some days I never sit down because I’m on the floor checking on new equipment or following up on an ongoing project—nothing in this role is dull.”
As General Manager, Dominguez admires the way Premier actively promotes from within as they did with him. The company promotes continuous learning. “It’s true what they say, you never stop learning. I love that I can say I know how to operate a laser, press break, waterjet, letter bender, 3D printer, and now large format printer. Getting to learn each of those pieces of equipment feeds the curious side of me that asks the question: ‘I wonder how that works?’ Although roles change within the organization, I’m happy to be a part of the ever-evolving technology and creativity that I find with Premier.”
The company encourages professional growth and supports all the aspects and knowledge that each employee brings to the table, making his day-to-day easier. He’s able to bring creative ideas to the Chris Bullard, CEO, without fear of being reprimanded, and he’s able to lean on his knowledgeable staff for their perspective.
“For a while, I kind of felt that imposter syndrome because I started doing this and I looked around the table and I saw these guys that have been doing this for years and years. But everybody’s up to trying it and hearing me out.” Dominguez says. “Chris is very open to trying something new and his whole thing is, ‘let’s try it, let’s see what happens!’” In fact, the 3D printer addition was Dominguez’s fruitful idea, and has given Premier to new capabilities in more ways than one.
As far as Premier’s present, Dominguez says, “We just completely and officially moved into our building in Vegas. Even now though, there’s room for expansion and we’re prepared for it.” Because if there’s one thing this company (and Dominguez) won’t stop doing, it’s growing. They’ve recently added a graphic designs department, “We’ve been sending that out for a while [to other companies] but we now keep that in house,” Dominguez says.
At the end of the day, Premier continues to turn ambitious ideas into functional works of art. From building custom bars at the Plaza Hotel to mounting Formula One race cars on private walls, and designing showstopping displays for tradeshows worldwide, the company is constantly pushing boundaries—and with Dominguez at the helm, that momentum shows no signs of slowing.
For Dominguez, his time at Premier can be summed up in one word: growth. Whether he’s encouraging his team to expand their skills or overseeing the addition of new departments, Dominguez is always looking forward. Dominguez said one thing he wanted readers to walk away with after reading this article about the company he’s helped shape for the last decade, he laughs: “We build some cool stuff! And it’s high-quality. If they can think it, we can make it.”
This story originally appeared in the Q4 2024 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 84. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q4_2024/84.
