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MiMfg Magazine
November 2017
James B. Nicholson
2017 MFG Lifetime Achievement
PVS Chemicals, Inc.
James B.
Nicholson
Chairman of
the Board
PVS Chemicals, Inc.
PVS Chemicals, Inc. is a global
manufacturer, distributor and
marketer of basic chemicals
and related environmental
and hazardous materials
transportation services with
a focus on responsible care
and safety.
excellence
AWARDS
When people hear the phrase “public
servant,” they first think of an elected official
or government administrator. But that term
can just as easily be applied to those serving in
the corporate world, and there’s no better
example in Michigan than James B. Nicholson,
chairman of the board for PVS Chemicals, Inc.
in Detroit.
For his decades of personal and financial
support for a massive list of Southeast Michigan
institutions and organizations, Nicholson
has been awarded a 2017 MFG Lifetime
Achievement Award.
“Growing your company and growing your
community are not mutually exclusive,” said
Nicholson, who has overseen the expansion of
PVS Chemicals from a 100-person company
serving metro Detroit to a worldwide supplier
of industrial chemicals that employs about
1,300 people at locations in 10 states and
Canada, Belgium and Thailand.
A good measure of that success can be
traced to the Nicholson Nine, a list of guiding
principles that Nicholson formulated after
joining the company in 1972 that starts with
“Safety is #1” and ends with “We Always Do
What is Right.”
“It’s how we think about the world around
us,” Nicholson said. “It’s a way for people to
understand where we are coming from. Safety
is at the top of the list. Like the airlines, we
work in a business where the consequences of
doing something wrong can be quite terrible.
So safety is what we are all about.”
Many of Nicholson’s accomplishments
are rooted in his deep affinity for the Detroit
area. He and his wife, Ann, spearheaded the
creation of the 33-acre Nicholson Nature
Center in Clinton Township in 2009 at the
same site where Nicholson swam in the
Clinton River as a kid. He joined the YMCA
board at the age of 32 as a young executive at
PVS Chemicals and went on to participate in
a host of other philanthropic, artistic, educational
and corporate boards throughout his career.
Among them are the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, McGregor Fund, YMCA of
Metropolitan Detroit, Community Foundation
for Southeast Michigan, Detroit Public
Television, Business Leaders for Michigan,
Detroit Regional Chamber, DMC Foundation,
Michigan Colleges Foundation, Booth School
of Business, University of Chicago and The
Futures Foundation.
Many credit Nicholson with providing
critical assistance to the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra (DSO) when the organization was
experiencing financial difficulties and
during the $100 million fundraising effort
for the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
“All great cities have great symphonies,”
said Nicholson, who shares credit with his
wife for their community service. “Detroit has
one of the top three halls in the world with
regard to acoustic quality, and we were in
danger of losing the DSO. So I did my best
to make sure that it prospered. We’ve gone
through some rough times, but it’s doing
quite well at the moment.”
He is particularly proud of preserving a
historic piece of Detroit with the purchase and
renovation of the former headquarters of the
Fruehauf Corp., inventor of the semi-truck
trailer and, at one time, the largest truck-
trailer manufacturer in North America.
Fruehauf filed for bankruptcy in 1997.
When he bought the sprawling Fruehauf
headquarters on Harper Avenue in 1992,
Nicholson said at the time that he “couldn’t
let such a beautiful building go to waste.” He
went on to convert 350,000 square feet of the
building into headquarters for PVS Chemicals.
“It would have been stripped very quickly had
it gone vacant,” he said. “Empty buildings in
Detroit don’t last very long.”
As a lifelong participant in industrial and
trade organizations such as MMA and the
American Chemistry Council, Nicholson said
he is proud that his four sons also work at
Nicholson’s story continues on page 28.
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