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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Fifty years ago Bruce Nesbit founded Orion | ||||||
| 3 | Industries, Ltd. - a company that applies Teflon coatings on | ||||||
| 4 | products from consumer bakeware to automotive and industrial | ||||||
| 5 | products; and | ||||||
| 6 | WHEREAS, Orion
Industries has been a Dupont Licensed | ||||||
| 7 | Applicator of Teflon since 1979; it not only
applies Teflon and | ||||||
| 8 | other functional coatings but creates, develops, and builds | ||||||
| 9 | application
equipment to apply the coatings; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit attended Lane Tech College Prep High | ||||||
| 11 | School,
Wilbur Wright Junior College (now Wilbur Wright | ||||||
| 12 | College), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; | ||||||
| 13 | in 1963 and 1964,
while recovering from a broken ankle, he | ||||||
| 14 | started Orion Industries in his parents' basement at
4654 | ||||||
| 15 | Laramie Avenue in Northwest Chicago; in that basement, he first | ||||||
| 16 | applied coatings to race car
engine parts, one of his lifelong | ||||||
| 17 | passions, which resulted in him winning many road racing
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| 18 | championships; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, In 1964, Bruce Nesbit required start-up financing | ||||||
| 20 | that was obtained by selling stock to friends, relatives,
his | ||||||
| 21 | initial suppliers, and anyone he could convince; this allowed | ||||||
| 22 | him to open his first
production facility at 346 North Justine | ||||||
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| 1 | Street in Chicago; he eventually repaid all of his 45 initial
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| 2 | shareholders with a handsome return on their investment and | ||||||
| 3 | continued to grow his company; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, Since that initial 3-person production facility, | ||||||
| 5 | Bruce Nesbit has moved his company twice, first to 4640 Clark | ||||||
| 6 | Street in 1981, and then in 1991 to the present production | ||||||
| 7 | facility - a 22,000
square feet facility at 5170 North | ||||||
| 8 | Northwest Highway; Orion Industries will be relocating in the | ||||||
| 9 | near future
to a new 68,000 square feet facility at 5480 North | ||||||
| 10 | Northwest Highway; it has grown from 3 employees in
1964 to 138 | ||||||
| 11 | today; and
| ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit often gets kidded about his prototype | ||||||
| 13 | machines, many of which have been patented; his unofficial
| ||||||
| 14 | title is CTO - Chief Tinkerologist; he holds 31 United States | ||||||
| 15 | Patents, with 9 more pending; he is
on the national board of | ||||||
| 16 | the Society of the Plastics Industry and is a member of other | ||||||
| 17 | committees
and organizations such as Vistage International; he | ||||||
| 18 | was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall
of | ||||||
| 19 | Fame in 2013; his company was awarded the DuPont Plunkett Award | ||||||
| 20 | for Industrial
Innovation in 2014; gain-sharing, where | ||||||
| 21 | employees are rewarded for productivity and
efficiency, is the | ||||||
| 22 | cornerstone of his management
philosophy; and
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| 23 | WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit continues to reside in Chicago; he | ||||||
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| 1 | has 2 married daughters, one grandson, and another on the way; | ||||||
| 2 | he is truly a Chicago guy, and along with his wife, Diane | ||||||
| 3 | Jacobson, donates to several museums, artists, and theater | ||||||
| 4 | groups, such as the TimeLine Theatre Company; they are also | ||||||
| 5 | supporters of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Adaptive | ||||||
| 6 | Adventures,
the Wounded Warriors Project, the Anchor Cross | ||||||
| 7 | Society at Rush University Medical Center, breast cancer | ||||||
| 8 | research, leukemia research, and
other local charities and | ||||||
| 9 | civic organizations; therefore, be it
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| 10 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 11 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 12 | we recognize Bruce Nesbit and congratulate him on the success | ||||||
| 13 | of his company Orion Industries, Ltd., and we wish him many | ||||||
| 14 | more years of success; and be it further
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| 15 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 16 | presented to Bruce Nesbit as an expression of our esteem and | ||||||
| 17 | respect.
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