Member Spotlight: Chris Steiner Brings Competition, Connection, and a Little Football Trash Talk to MDNA

Member Spotlight: Chris Steiner Brings Competition, Connection, and a Little Football Trash Talk to MDNA

Universal Automatics’ Chris Steiner has spent over two decades building relationships through the MDNA. As commissioner of the association’s fantasy football league, he’s found another way to bring members together.

For Chris Steiner of Universal Automatics, relationships have always been at the center of the machinery business.

Apparently, a little fantasy football trash talk doesn’t hurt, either.

Steiner is entering his fourth season as commissioner of the MDNA Fantasy Football League, with this year’s draft beginning September 2. What started as a fun idea has become another way for machinery dealers across the association to stay connected throughout the year.

“It’s something we can do from our offices,” Steiner said. “It gives us something to talk about on Sunday and a chance for some ribbing back and forth. It’s another avenue of networking that’s less intrusive. It’s just fun.”

That emphasis on relationships fits Steiner well.

More Than 25 Years in the Machinery Business

Steiner joined Universal Automatics in 2000, three years after the company was founded by his mother, Mary Steiner. Fresh out of college and a stint in politics, Steiner was looking for his next direction. He saw an opportunity in a relatively specialized segment of the machinery industry: Swiss-Type Sliding Headstock CNC Lathes.

At the time, relatively few dealers were concentrating on those machines. Steiner helped Universal Automatics expand into the market, and it quickly became a company specialty.

Today, Universal Automatics buys, sells and brokers CNC turning equipment ranging from machines producing extremely small precision parts to equipment handling diameters of approximately 2.5 inches. That includes sophisticated multi-axis machines ranging from 5 to 13 axes.

The equipment may be complex, but Steiner describes the foundation of the business as something much more simple: relationships.

Over nearly three decades, Universal Automatics has built connections with OEMs, dealers, and customers across the machinery industry. In some cases, Steiner is now doing business with the next generation of family his family worked with years ago.

“You earn those relationships because you’re good at what you do and you keep your word,” he said.

Why MDNA Matters

Universal Automatics joined MDNA in January 2004. For Steiner, membership gives an independent dealer access to something much larger than a single company’s inventory or expertise. He points to the association’s network of specialized dealers as one of its greatest strengths.

“I don’t have to know everything about grinders if I know a grinder dealer I trust,” Steiner explained. “You’re doubling and tripling your manpower without having to hire someone to specialize in every market.”

That network can help Universal Automatics find equipment for a customer, market machines outside its specialty, or connect a buyer with another trusted dealer in a different part of the country.

MDNA’s educational opportunities are equally valuable. Seminars and speakers allow members to step away from their daily workload and take what Steiner calls a “30,000-foot view” of issues affecting the industry.

Ultimately, he believes education and networking lead to the same result: better service for customers.

From MDNA Scholarship Recipient to Fantasy Commissioner

Steiner’s connection to MDNA goes back even further than Universal Automatics’ membership. As a student, he received support through the Austin D. Lucas Scholarship Fund. (His mother worked for James Kenworthy of Great American Automatics at the time.) It was an opportunity Steiner never forgot.

Years later, after leaving a fantasy football league he had enjoyed, Steiner started wondering whether the game could create another connection point for MDNA members.

Instead of seeing one another only at conventions, seminars, and dinners, why not give members a fun way to interact all season? They could even give back to the same scholarship fund that helped him. 

The MDNA Fantasy Football League was born in 2023.

Today, the league includes 12 teams representing 12 different dealers, with some companies using co-managers. As commissioner, Steiner organizes the teams, rules, scoring, draft, and payouts — a responsibility he jokingly describes as “herding cats.”

He also handles two particularly important pieces of league hardware. The champion receives a trophy modeled after the Lombardi Trophy. Last place receives a toilet. And yes, recipients have proudly displayed it. The league includes weekly prizes, too, including $50 for the team scoring the most points.

More importantly, the league can serve a larger purpose. Steiner gives participants the chance to donate winnings to MDNA scholarship programs through the Austin D. Lucas Scholarship Fund.

After Steiner won the league’s second season, he donated his entire $800 payout to the cause. For a former scholarship recipient, it was a chance to bring the experience full circle.

Building Relationships One Matchup at a Time

The league has produced plenty of memorable moments, from creative team names, such as Canadian member Chris Walker’s “GR8WHTNORTH,” to one unfortunate participant earning the last-place distinction two years running.

But for Steiner, the relationships built through the season are the biggest highlight. The original participants have continued coming back, and members are getting to know dealers they might not otherwise interact with regularly.

“If you can deal with them in fantasy football,” said Steiner, “you can work on a machine deal with them.”

Eventually, Steiner would like to see participation grow to 20 teams, enough to support two MDNA leagues and perhaps even an MDNA Fantasy Football Super Bowl.

For now, there’s still room to grow.

The 2026 draft starts September 2, and members interested in joining the fun can reach out directly to Chris Steiner. If this year’s roster is already set, there’s always next season. After all, in the machinery business — and apparently in fantasy football — it never hurts to know one more good dealer.