Salvador Vassallo

Vassallo (birth name: Salvador V. Vassallo Ruiz ), grandparents migrated from Italy in the late 19th century and settled in the town of Yauco. Vassallo, nicknamed "Chiry", and his brothers were born in Yauco and raised in the city of Ponce where their father, Salvador Vassallo Sr., opened a hardware store.

After school hours, Vassallo and his brothers, Efraín, Víctor, Félix, and Marcos, would work in the family business. Salvador Vassallo Sr. founded Vassallo Industries, Inc., a company which initially made only windows and cement blocks.

In 1989 Salvador bought out his brothers and became president and chairman, assuming the CEO post in 2002. In the 1990s Vassallo founded Vassallo Molding Company for the manufacture of plastic furniture and household goods. In 1997, Home Depot became a client in addition to Kmart and Wal-Mart. The company added a research and development division to its growing empire, with emphasis on quality control. The company now has over forty patents for different PVC products.

In January 2000, Efrain Vassallo (the only Puerto Rican named National Small Businessman of the Year [in 1996], to date) rejoined his brother in Vassallo Industries Inc as a consultant. In 2003, Vassallo Industries Inc. invested $15 million in the expansion of its facility in Ponce, in an effort to produce Polyvinyl Chloride pellets for distribution in the United States, Caribbean and Latin America.

In 2004, Vassallo Industries Inc. acquired Syroco Inc., a plastics manufacturer, adding manufacturing operations in California, New York, and Arkansas. Syroco is one of the most prominent manufacturers of plastic furniture and wall decor in the United States. By acquiring Syroco, Vassallo Industries Inc. added Target, Sam's Club, Lowe's and Walgreens to its clientele.

Among the many products manufactured by the company founded by Salvador Vassallo are the following: fittings, flexible conduit, flower pots, leaf rakes, step stones, water tanks, pipes, PVC cement, kayaks and water floats. The company produces plastic furniture under the brand Signature Series Line.

After Vassallo graduated from college, he went to work in as a salesman for his father's business. Traveling throughout Puerto Rico taking orders from established customers, he made new contacts with potential customers. These skills would serve him well when Vassallo and his brothers inherited the business. In the 1950s, Vassallo's brother Efrain David, an engineer and the oldest of the Vassallo brothers, saw the potential in plastic.