Amassing numerous honors and distinctions for his many achievements at the helm of The Custom Companies, Perry Mandera joined the Illinois Transportation Association's Board of Directors in 1996 and was selected as one of the Illinois Trucking Association's Top 100 American Transportation Executives of the Millennium in 2000. Named a 2004 Giant Award Winner for Business in 2004, Mr. Mandera also earned a Leonard Schaller Businessman of the Year Award and was dubbed Executive of the Year by the Italian American Executives of Transportation.
Perry Mandera maintains a firm commitment to philanthropy outside of his work directing The Custom Companies. To this end, Mr. Mandera supports the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, The University of Chicago Medical Center, Catholic Charities USA, and The Lynn Sage Foundation, a non-profit entity that promotes breast cancer education and research in collaboration with Northwestern University's Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Long devoted to causes that benefit needy children, Perry Mander played an integral role in forming Custom Cares Charities, an organization that channels its resources towards a variety of programs for at-risk and critically ill youth.