HR1343 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1343 LRB098 23185 MST 62188 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Fifty years ago Bruce Nesbit founded Orion Industries, Ltd. - a company that applies Teflon coatings on products from consumer bakeware to automotive and industrial products; and

WHEREAS, Orion Industries has been a Dupont Licensed Applicator of Teflon since 1979; it not only applies Teflon and other functional coatings but creates, develops, and builds application equipment to apply the coatings; and

WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit attended Lane Tech College Prep High School, Wilbur Wright Junior College (now Wilbur Wright College), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; in 1963 and 1964, while recovering from a broken ankle, he started Orion Industries in his parents' basement at 4654 Laramie Avenue in Northwest Chicago; in that basement, he first applied coatings to race car engine parts, one of his lifelong passions, which resulted in him winning many road racing championships; and

WHEREAS, In 1964, Bruce Nesbit required start-up financing that was obtained by selling stock to friends, relatives, his initial suppliers, and anyone he could convince; this allowed him to open his first production facility at 346 North Justine Street in Chicago; he eventually repaid all of his 45 initial shareholders with a handsome return on their investment and continued to grow his company; and

WHEREAS, Since that initial 3-person production facility, Bruce Nesbit has moved his company twice, first to 4640 Clark Street in 1981, and then in 1991 to the present production facility - a 22,000 square feet facility at 5170 North Northwest Highway; Orion Industries will be relocating in the near future to a new 68,000 square feet facility at 5480 North Northwest Highway; it has grown from 3 employees in 1964 to 138 today; and

WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit often gets kidded about his prototype machines, many of which have been patented; his unofficial title is CTO - Chief Tinkerologist; he holds 31 United States Patents, with 9 more pending; he is on the national board of the Society of the Plastics Industry and is a member of other committees and organizations such as Vistage International; he was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2013; his company was awarded the DuPont Plunkett Award for Industrial Innovation in 2014; gain-sharing, where employees are rewarded for productivity and efficiency, is the cornerstone of his management philosophy; and

WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit continues to reside in Chicago; he has 2 married daughters, one grandson, and another on the way; he is truly a Chicago guy, and along with his wife, Diane Jacobson, donates to several museums, artists, and theater groups, such as the TimeLine Theatre Company; they are also supporters of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Adaptive Adventures, the Wounded Warriors Project, the Anchor Cross Society at Rush University Medical Center, breast cancer research, leukemia research, and other local charities and civic organizations; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize Bruce Nesbit and congratulate him on the success of his company Orion Industries, Ltd., and we wish him many more years of success; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Bruce Nesbit as an expression of our esteem and respect.