Bob Margolis has known Harry Fine, owner of FMi Chemical Inc. in Bloomfield, for 25-plus years. So when Fine, a chemist whose company makes a silicone used primarily for seals in jet engines, needed someone to help lead and manage FMi’s growth, he approached Margolis, who has a diverse background in everything from business development to ownership.
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Bob Margolis has known Harry Fine, owner of FMi Chemical Inc. in Bloomfield, for 25-plus years. So when Fine, a chemist whose company makes a silicone used primarily for seals in jet engines, needed someone to help lead and manage FMi's growth, he approached Margolis, who has a diverse background in everything from business development to ownership.
FMi has aggressive growth plans, said Margolis, president of business development, who joined FMi last fall.
“We believe in the industry that we're in, with the products that we have, we can grow 300 to 400 percent over the next few years,” he said.
FMi makes a silicone used to form abradable seals, many of which go directly into Pratt & Whitney jet engines or into engines at overhaul and repair centers. The product, located in the engine surrounding the fan blades, is used on the front, or cool, side of the engine. It's rated up to 550 degrees and is laboratory certified to engine makers' high-level specifications.
FMi also takes in other manufacturers' nonmetallic materials for testing and custom repackaging.
Margolis, 58, described his management style as liking to work with smart people, giving them tools they need to succeed and getting out of their way.
Without a chemistry background, “I only have one choice … to try and lead and manage effectively and motivate,” he said.
Margolis' business education began under his father, who started Crest Blueprint in Farmington in 1956 and for which Margolis left early from college in 1977 when his father sought his help.
The business served the architecture, engineering and construction community, making blueprints and selling related supplies. The building industry boomed in the 1980s and so did Crest.
The blueprint industry morphed into reprographics in the late-'80s, when Margolis' father began phasing into retirement and the business eventually became known as Crest Graphics.
Margolis took over fully in 1990 heading a company that would double in employees, to 33, over his time there. He sold in 1999 to a company acquiring blueprint firms, but stayed onboard. The company went public in 2005 and Margolis left in 2006 as its focus changed.
That year, he joined West Hartford's Fathom, which helps organizations establish or reshape their identity, in business development and worked there until 2009.
Fathom partner Brent Robertson described Margolis as a truly genuine person. His generosity and desire to connect with people on a human scale differentiate him, Robertson said.
After Fathom, Margolis joined The Alliance for Nonprofit Growth and Opportunity as chief operating officer, and helped it grow before leaving in 2013. He then joined the construction management division of STV|DPM as director of business development, where he worked most recently, and about the same time started his own business, LifeSafe Training, as a nights and weekends endeavor he continues today.
LifeSafe trains individuals and families on firearms safety, including teaching children what to do if they find a gun. An accomplished marksman, Margolis is a certified instructor for pistols, rifles and shotguns.
He also sells guns as a federal firearms licensee, after reviewing buyers' needs.
“It's very custom,” he said. “I'm dead-set against people making buying errors with guns.”
He also teaches pistol permit classes and tactical defense and takes classes from former elite special forces to stay sharp.
Margolis is proud of his diverse career and tried to make the most of every opportunity.
“I'm a big believer that opportunities don't come to you, you create opportunity,” he said.
Margolis and his wife, Carole, a residential Realtor in Simsbury, have two grown children. Margolis said golf and guns are his diversions.
A signed photo of him with late golfing legend Arnold Palmer, whom Margolis met about 20 years ago while playing with a friend at Palmer's Bay Hill Club in Florida, hangs over his desk as a special memory.
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