We fully understand it's never about what we've done, but what we're doing. John GorrellGeauga County is a very, very special place. It's amazing to me the number of people and businesses that have gravitated here. Lee Imhof
When John Gorrell accepted the 2016 Legacy Company award — a framed map of Geauga County — April 28, the general manager of HEXPOL Compounding Burton Rubber Processing downplayed the surface appeal of his industry.
“The rubber industry is not that glamorous or sexy,” Gorrell told the crowd at the Geauga County Community Improvement Corporation’s 46th annual Salute to Business and Industry. He added a caveat that made it clear why it is the culture of his choice.
“When you’re associating with the people that you love, doing what you love, it doesn’t get any better than that,”he said.
Caterina Cocca-Fulton, a member of the CIC board of directors, said the company — also involved in transportation, construction, research and development and distribution — received the award based on its expansion and its commitment to the community and its employees.
Gorrell said his operation is part of a corporation based in Sweden that has 3,900 employees worldwide and has experienced a 220-percent growth rate in the last five years.
Burton Rubber Processing is one of HEXPOL’s 38 facilities worldwide and has been a Geauga County business for more than 65 years, he said.
“The relationship between an industry leader like Burton Rubber Processing and the community is reciprocal and symbiotic,” Gorrell said. “There can be no leaders without a community to serve. And without a community of supporters, the leader is unable to be of service. We fully understand it’s never about what we’ve done, but what we’re doing.”
More than 100 businesspeople and officials attended the annual event.
Robert Faehnle, CEO of nonprofit Leadership Geauga, was recognized for the organization’s dedication to educating, encouraging and developing leadership skills. He also said he plans to retire from his position after 12 years as CEO.
Geauga Business Magazine’s partners, Margie Wilber and Chris Yuhsaz, were also noted for the work they do.
The county-wide publication, published three times a year, was started five years ago to get Geauga businesses to network with each other, Wilber said.
She said the innovative operation “works like a well-oiled machine.”
Yuhsaz said the magazine is a great team effort and has found a home in Bainbridge Township.
“This publication has been a lot of fun,” he said.
Geauga County Commissioner Blake Rear credited Newbury Business Park, co-owned by Chuck White and Nancy White, as being a great operation and asset to the county.
The 15 buildings at the intersection of state Routes 44 and 87 in Newbury Township provide an incubator service for start-up businesses, he said, naming Kinetico, Saint-Gobain Crystals, North American Cast Stone, Water Star Inc., Unity Rubber Co. Ltd. and The Buckeye Chocolate Company as some who have roots there.
Troy Chemical Industries, located in Troy Township, “was started with a wing and a prayer and totally underfinanced,” said CEO Lee Imhof. His father was in the chemical business since 1953 and started the company in 1971 on land his grandfather bought in 1906.
“Geauga County is a very, very special place. It’s amazing to me the number of people and businesses that have gravitated here,” he said.
