Oberto Named Lakeville Chamber's Business Person of the Year

Norman Oberto has been selected as the 2011 Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year.

Oberto is owner of Lakeville-based Imperial Plastics, a manufacturer of engineered plastic components.

According to a press release from the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce, the Business Person of the Year award is presented to a chamber member whose contributions improved the business climate and made the community a better place to live and work.

Past winners meet annually to review and select the nominations made by the general chamber membership.

Oberto said he is accepting this award on behalf of his company’s successes and to honor his valued and loyal employees. New jobs have been created at Imperial Plastics since Oberto purchased the company, with the number of employees tripling in size.

Oberto purchased Imperial Plastics in Lakeville’s Airlake Industrial Park in January 1997. Applying his foundry experience, as well as a background in machining and other types of molding, he learned plastics from his new staff.

After several acquisitions of other molders, Imperial Plastics has grown from 50,000 square feet to 263,000 square feet in five locations—four in Lakeville and one in West Saint Paul.

Regarding the mergers, Oberto said, "Consolidating the supply base proved beneficial for our customers as we can now offer more support, design and development services than before.” He added that he continuously looks for opportunities to create synergies in plastics as well as other new products.

Even during the economic downturn, Oberto and his staff have grown the business and created new applications by converting previous metal components to plastics.

“Although the economy shrunk by about 15 percent and our piece of the pie was smaller, we worked harder to make up the difference," Oberto said. "We’ve worked to become a one-stop-shop, catering to the customers needs.”

Imperial Plastics is a global company, with two offices in China operating under Integrated Products, Inc.

Oberto credits the Imperial staff and the company's customer partnerships for his success.

“We provide the best value for products and services to our customers," he said, "emphasizing safety, quality, and production with on-time delivery. We are here because customers want to do business with us”.

Oberto grew up in Decatur, IL. He graduated from Millikin University with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering. He and his wife, Lori, have been married for 37 years with three daughters: Lauren, Allison and Emily.

Oberto’s hobbies are golf, reading, traveling, woodworking and refinishing/remodeling.

The Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual chamber membership meeting and holiday dinner is Monday, Jan. 30, at . Social hour begins at 6 p.m. From 7 to 9 p.m. are the dinner and program, including the recognition of the Business Person of the Year. 

Tickets are $45 per person and can be reserved by calling the Lakeville Chamber office at 952-469-2020 or www.LakevilleChamber.org. You need not be a chamber member to attend this dinner.