Lester Trilla "Les"
Title:
President and CEO
Phone:
773.847.7588
Email:
l.trilla@trilla.com
Fax:
312.604.7804
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.
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