Jon Nicholson, President/Owner of NorthStar Rubber Specialties, L.L.C.
Objectives
To cooperate with North American, European, and other distributors to source products in Asia. Also, to offer a continuing contact and presence at Asian manufacturing facilities, through a combination of American and Asian partners, to meet the needs of clients to compete in their markets with specific cost and quality requirements.
Assets
Personal:
Experience in Asia – Numerous and frequent business trips to China, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, have provided ample experience working with Asian factories. I have a strong understanding of the importance of mutually-respectful, open, and productive business relationships with Asian partners. I also understand the need for strict attention to detail, given the complications of cross-cultural communication.
Professional:
Employment with LaCrosse Footwear, Inc.: 24 years (continuous from 10/1/77 to 12/1/2001). Positions held included:
- Factory worker
- Lab Technician
- Development Chemist
- Product Development Manager, Rubber Occupational
Current employment:
Publications
- Rubber Boots: Understanding an Industry, plus Hacks and Compromises, Released online December 2023
- A Beginner's Gude to Gambas, Revised for Version 3, Infinity Publishing, July, 2011
- A Solution to the West Coast 6PPD Problem is Already Available.pdf, Released online December 2023
- Proposal for realistic conditioning and preparation of rubber sample material for comparative testing of 6PPD and Durazone 37, Released online December 2023
- “Boot Having Gritted Outsole”, (pat. #5,038,500), Aug. 13, 1991
- “Thermoplastic-Rubber Wader and Method of Manufacture”, (pat. #4,858,342), May 27, 1988
Professional memberships:
- American Chemical Society/Rubber Division
- National Fire Protection Association
Academic:
- BA Political Science/Russian Language, University of Florida, 1969-72; including 1 year each of Chemistry, Biology, and Statistics.
- Viterbo University, 1987-88; 1 year of Anatomy and Physiology.
- University of Wisconsin, 1988-90; 1 year each of Organic Chemistry and Calculus.
Extensive manufacturing experience – I have a technical and manufacturing background, and experience in designing and managing the certification of footwear products to American, European, and Canadian standards. I also have extensive experience with product testing, troubleshooting manufacturing problems, determining failure modes of defective rubber products, and devising solutions to those failures.
President/Owner, “NorthStar Rubber Specialties, LLC”, since 2001, specializing in footwear design and manufacturing, rubber compounding.