Local exec inducted into college Hall of Fame
Ed Rensi of Downers Grove remembers what it was like when he was an Ohio State University student and his wife was expecting their first child. He had no money. No car. No job. He dropped out just short of graduation and walked into a building under construction that had a “help wanted” sign.
He got a job there for 85 cents an hour flipping burgers at McDonald’s in 1966. By 1984, he still didn’t have his college degree, but he had worked his way up to CEO of McDonald’s USA.
“I didn’t plan any of it,” Rensi joked about his whole career.
He wanted to finish college before his father died, but that didn’t happen, Rensi said. Instead, he finally graduated in 1990, about midway during his tenure as McDonald’s CEO, all while ushering in drive-thrus, Chicken McNuggets and Ronald McDonald Houses. Now at 66, he was inducted last week into Ohio State University’s Hall of Fame.
“I always tell people that I crammed a four-year program into 27 years,” Rensi said.
Even his education from McDonald’s Hamburger University came in handy as he helped to create Tom & Eddie’s Best Burgers, a new restaurant chain based in Woodridge.
The kid from Hopedale, Ohio, near the Ohio River, also saw Downers Grove and settled there in 1978. He and his family never left.
Rensi grins when he thinks of his grandson, a student at Ohio State University and in a fraternity. Rensi wasn’t in any fraternity back then.
“I was too busy working during college,” Rensi said. “I did a lot of washing and ironing of clothes for other guys on the weekends to earn money,” Rensi recalled.
Today, he’s working hard ensuring that Tom & Eddie’s offers the type of burger he’s always proud to serve. But operating a restaurant today is vastly different from in the 1960s, he said.
“The world is a more difficult and complicated place today,” Rensi said. “It blows my mind today. The city, state and federal government regulatory reports are staggering.”
So much of his time now is spent filing paperwork and dealing with lawyers, he said.
“The food hasn’t changed. The people haven’t changed. Those were the reasons I came back. I love building teams and love working with the College of DuPage on this,” said Rensi, who works with the Glen Ellyn college’s culinary arts students to taste test products for Tom and Eddie’s.
While Rensi said he quit as CEO of McDonald’s in 1998, he wants to continue working.
“I’m never going to retire,” he said.
Coming up roses
Tony Abruscato, owner of Flower Show Productions Inc. and son of Wheeling Village President Judy Abruscato, has been named chairman of Chicago Gateway Green, a nonprofit that landscapes expressway ramp areas, vacant lots and other sites. The 1982 graduate of Wheeling High School also was past president and commissioner of the Wheeling Park District from 1983 to 1989. He now lives in a condo in Chicago, where he maintains plenty of container gardens.
Touch of Hollywood
Mark Nadolski of Arlington Heights will head a new business unit of Arlington Heights-based Visual Enterprise Systems Inc., a software development firm founded in 1998. Nadolski is using his connections with Hollywood to provide film production for the company’s clients. He’s done independent films, commercials, short films and other projects for local businesses, including Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and Peterson Roofing in Mount Prospect. His father, Michael Nadolski, owns VES and is a board member of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce. And did we mention that Mark is all of 23?
The suburban A List
Jeffrey M. Yordon, CEO and chairman of Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Schaumburg, was honored as the Entrepreneur of the Year in the health sciences category at the Ernst & Young 25th annual Midwest Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Wednesday. Other winners include Joseph A. Slawek, founder and CEO of FONA International in Geneva, in the distribution/manufacturing category; and Jeff Silver, CEO of Coyote Logistics LLC in Lake Forest, in the private equity category.
Others nominated at the gala include Stuart Bernsen, CEO of Chiro One Wellness Centers in Oak Brook; Jack W. Blumenstein, co-president, and Michael J. Small, president and CEO, of Aircell in Itasca; Paul C. Darley, president and CEO of W.S. Darley & Co. in Itasca; Michele Honomichl, CEO and founder of Celergo in Deerfield; John Priest, CEO of Equable Ascent Financial LLC in Buffalo Grove; and Mark A. Thierer, chairman, president and CEO of SXC Health solutions in Lisle.
FastTrack
Speaking of Halls of Fame, Ken Smith of Gurnee and an Allstate agency owner in Arlington Heights has been inducted into the Allstate Financial Hall of Fame for helping customers plan for their insurance and financial needs, including retirement. ... Kathryn L. Brod will become vice president of senior living strategic initiatives at Mather LifeWays, a not-for-profit in Evanston. ... Michael Keen of Naperville is now vice president of strategic accounts for Romeoville-based Protection 1, an electronic security company. ... CPA Scott Duenser of Plainfield has become a principal at Aurora-based Klein, Hall & Associates LLC. He joined the firm as a manager in 2006.
Ÿ There’s more to business than just the bottom line. We want to tell you about the people that make business work. I’m Anna Marie Kukec and I’d like to hear from you. Send news about people in business to akukec@dailyherald.com. Follow me on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter.