COVER STORY
Untitled Page
George Adams
CEO – SA Recycling, Anaheim
OC METRO's Hot 25 for 2011Published: November 01, 2011
Status: Married with five sons, ages 11 to 27
Your
proudest moment: The day that I finally got my first bulk exporting
facility. This gave us the ability to load large oceangoing vessels with
scrap metal.
Hot Factor: With more than $1 billion a year in sales,
nearly 50 scrap yards and shipments from two ports, George Adams’ firm
is one of the largest scrap-metal-recycling operations in the Western
Hemisphere.
George Adams joined the family heavy-metal-recycling
business at age 20, pillaging through city dumps for metal. His father
told him that if they could produce revenue of $65,000 a month, they
would be a success. Some 35 years later, Adams still chuckles about
those numbers. SA Recycling and its Australian partner (Sims) bring in a
minimum of $100 million in monthly business – often double that.
“My
dad is 90 years old and still comes to the office every day. But even
he can’t believe the success we’ve had,” says Adams, who earned a law
degree along the way to help prepare him to run things.
SA
Recycling deals in big steel: buildings, fences, high beams, trucks,
buses. It ships 3.5 million tons each year to Asia from the ports of
Long Beach and L.A. It operates almost 50 scrap yards in California,
Arizona and Nevada, as well as one in Mexico. It has grown from 12
workers to 1,500. Part of his success, Adams says, is luck.“But you have
to put yourself out there to get lucky. We’ve been
willing to do that,
to capitalize on our luck.”
Editor’s Note: To see who made our “Hot 25” lists in prior years, visit our Archives page.
And,
we’re now on the hunt for exceptional women who are impacting O.C. If
you know someone who deserves to be on our 20 Women to Watch list,
please let us know at our Nominate page.
OC METRO'S HOT 25 HONOREES FOR 2011
Steve McKee | George Kalogridis | J. Chris Walsh | Daisy Tran
Dr. Richard Afable | Oleema & Kalani Miller | John Krafcik
Sandy Segerstrom Daniels | Wayne Irving | Rachelle Cracchiolo
John Wayne Airport | Dr. Robert Bray | Chris Dingman | Ki Nam
Joseph Lewis III | Nancy Salzman | George Adams | Tilden Smith
Marc Masterson | Vahan Garboushian | Tim Vanderhook
Tricia Esser | Phillip Chang | Nancy Wilhelm | Brenda Shott
<<< BACK TO MAIN HOT 25 PAGE
GO HERE TO READ THE CURRENT ISSUE OF
OC METRO MAGAZINE ONLINE
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Your proudest moment: The day that I finally got my first bulk exporting facility. This gave us the ability to load large oceangoing vessels with scrap metal. Hot Factor: With more than $1 billion a year in sales, nearly 50 scrap yards and shipments from two ports, George Adams’ firm is one of the largest scrap-metal-recycling operations in the Western Hemisphere. George Adams joined the family heavy-metal-recycling business at age 20, pillaging through city dumps for metal. His father told him that if they could produce revenue of $65,000 a month, they would be a success. Some 35 years later, Adams still chuckles about those numbers. SA Recycling and its Australian partner (Sims) bring in a minimum of $100 million in monthly business – often double that. “My dad is 90 years old and still comes to the office every day. But even he can’t believe the success we’ve had,” says Adams, who earned a law degree along the way to help prepare him to run things. SA Recycling deals in big steel: buildings, fences, high beams, trucks, buses. It ships 3.5 million tons each year to Asia from the ports of Long Beach and L.A. It operates almost 50 scrap yards in California, Arizona and Nevada, as well as one in Mexico. It has grown from 12 workers to 1,500. Part of his success, Adams says, is luck.“But you have to put yourself out there to get lucky. We’ve been willing to do that, to capitalize on our luck.” Editor’s Note: To see who made our “Hot 25” lists in prior years, visit our Archives page. And, we’re now on the hunt for exceptional women who are impacting O.C. If you know someone who deserves to be on our 20 Women to Watch list, please let us know at our Nominate page. OC METRO'S HOT 25 HONOREES FOR 2011 Steve McKee | George Kalogridis | J. Chris Walsh | Daisy Tran Dr. Richard Afable | Oleema & Kalani Miller | John Krafcik Sandy Segerstrom Daniels | Wayne Irving | Rachelle Cracchiolo John Wayne Airport | Dr. Robert Bray | Chris Dingman | Ki Nam Joseph Lewis III | Nancy Salzman | George Adams | Tilden Smith Marc Masterson | Vahan Garboushian | Tim Vanderhook Tricia Esser | Phillip Chang | Nancy Wilhelm | Brenda Shott <<< BACK TO MAIN HOT 25 PAGE GO HERE TO READ THE CURRENT ISSUE OF OC METRO MAGAZINE ONLINE |
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