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Lester Trilla "Les"

Title:              President and CEO
Phone:           773.847.7588
Email:            l.trilla@trilla.com
Fax:               312.604.7804

Lester Trilla, President & CEO and faithful companion Phoebe Trilla Lester Trilla, President and CEO of Trilla Steel Drum Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, is the 3rd generation of Trilla's to manage the company.  "Grandpa" Trilla came over to America from the "old country" and practiced his trade as a cooper smith - maker and repairer of wooden barrels.  The family later went into the reconditioning business in Chicago, and from 1964 to 1967 also owned and operated their own reconditioning business in Oak Creek, WI, which Lester literally built from the ground up.  In 1976 the reconditioning business and plant was sold and Trilla concentrated on just the manufacturing of new steel drums.

In 1969, Trilla began to manufacture new 55 gallon steel drums and moved their offices to the existing manufacturing facility.  In 1977, when his father died, Lester bought out his uncle and assumed control of the company.  The existing manufacturing plant is one of the industries "state-of-the-art" facilities.  

Lester is very active in the steel drum industry, being the youngest board member ever of the Steel Shipping Container Institute (SSCI), the trade association for new drums and pails.  He has remained on their Board of Directors for more than 34 years and is a former Chairman for the association.  He is also a past Chairman of the Steel Drum Council, a joint committee of new steel drum and reconditioned drum manufacturers.  Lester was very instrumental in working with the United States steel industry, creating the chemistry used today for the manufacture of new steel drums.  Recently, he has been elected Chairman of the International Confederation of Drum Manufacturers (ICDM), the international federation of steel drum and pail manufacturers composed of trade groups representing more than 80 manufacturers of steel drums from the USA, Europe, and Japan.

Lester's personal life is equally as accomplished as is his business life.  He is a "world class" shooter (shotgun), traveling throughout the world to shoot in international competitions.  He is also the current president of the US Flyers Federation.  Lester is also very active in civic and benevolent causes, serving on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Mental Health Association and actively involved in the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans.  He is also a board member of the College of Arts and Sciences at Northern Illinois University, personally funding a university sponsored "steel drum band", which travels throughout the world.