NWI Business and Industry Hall of Fame: Adela Ortega
Powerful and quiet.
Two words that Adela Ortega uses to describe a locomotive’s engine and what pulled her into the industry.
“I loved that fact that this huge, long train was pulled by one engine. Basically, one engine does all the work, so it has to be in good condition,” she says. “It’s very powerful and quiet, and that goes along with my personality. I don’t need fame, and I don’t need my name up there. I am very shy and I enjoy my privacy very much.”
She finds a sense of power in being a business owner and offering a place of employment at East Chicago-based Professional Locomotive Services, which she launched in 1996.
Her team services locomotives through repair, refurbishing and maintenance services, including inspection programs, engine overhauls, wheel cutting and steam cleaning both on-site and in the field. Customers are primarily in the private sector and range from steel to pharmaceutical companies.
“I started the company not because of any goal to be powerful to own a business … that wasn’t the concept at all. I thought, ‘Wow, not only can I give myself a job, I can give jobs to other people,’” she says. “To find those who have a passion, that is a key word for me when hiring. I need to see that they aren’t doing something because they have to, but because they are happy and proud of it.
“In that respect, I feel power in that my ideas can create jobs and if it was up to me, to have jobs for thousands. That is phenomenal in my point of view. I don’t need rewards … seeing people take their paychecks home, get married, have kids, spoil their kids … that is payback, that is wonderful to me.”
When she was a child, Ortega didn’t dream of entering the locomotive industry and, in fact, she wouldn’t have chosen to live in the United States. Born in Mexico, her parents brought her to the U.S. at age 9.
“If they had asked me, I would have chosen not to come here. Our children get mad at us, but eventually say, ‘Thank you.’ Thank you, Mom and Dad,” she says. “They knew better for me. Being here, soon enough, I learned the culture of this country and what makes it great, and I learned to love it.
“I gave my heart to this country. I saw its way of protecting people. There is a lot of negativity out there but I see all the greatness. I promised at a very young age that I would not be a burden to this country and I would take care of myself and not be someone else’s burden and I would empower myself to help others.”
A job in the locomotive industry was her only exposure to the world and the spark needed to fuel her passion.
“If you had asked me as a child what I wanted to do, this wouldn’t have been it. It’s not in my family … no one in my family does this,” she says. “I wanted a job where I could travel – I was young and had no kids and nothing to hold me down. I took a job that would keep me traveling and that job was in the railroad industry.
“When I was first exposed to locomotives and freights, I felt a passion and knew I wanted to work on this engine. I have always known I wanted to be in an executive position. My dream job was on Michigan Avenue (in Chicago). It’s funny how my dress code is steel-toed boots.”
Ortega launched the business at a young age when she was at a crossroads in her professional life. She continued to be exposed to the industry and had former customers and vendors seeking help getting connected.
“It was a very scary moment when I thought of having a business. I started it when my son was a few months old - now he is 18 - and I did it being a single parent,” she says.
“My role in the company when it first started was every position you can possibly think of. I was my own secretary, attorney, accountant, administrator, sales person, operations. I hired a mechanic and electrician to go out in the field. I purchased a vehicle and tools to do the work and set up a customer base and a vendor base.”
She has since built her fleet of vehicles and team members remaining around 16 to 24 employees over the years. She still has the original Lansing, Ill., location and she moved her administrative offices to East Chicago in 2007.
“My job is to accelerate or slow down the growth without letting people go. I make a commitment to people when I offer them a job that they will have 40 hours, and I stick to that no matter what,” she says.
Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dave Ryan says Ortega sparked a change when she moved PLS to East Chicago. The chamber named PLS the business of the year in 2012 and nominated her to the Society of Innovators in 2013 when she was named an individual member.
“She transformed a closed business into a great new locomotive repair shop. She put in new infrastructure and rehabbed a building that had been closed for years,” he says. “Now, it stands as a testimony to her hard work and her staff’s dedication to the locomotive industry.”
Though some may perceive women in the locomotive industry as unique, Ortega feels a natural ease. She sees her path as a progression of her experiences, work life, travels and family base, which includes members in the construction industry.
“It made it easy for me … simple … we are who we are with all of the pieces that make us up. It’s no different than a puzzle with pieces built a little at a time. It was kind of natural for me to deal with men and the industry and I had already built a passion for the locomotive,” she says.
Ortega sees her role in the community as leading a stable region business that can be a source of pride and a good neighbor, but she shies away from addressing her impact directly.
“I don’t know that I make an impact. Only when other people think I am, when other people notice, did I make a difference. … Now that I see that people are giving me that look that I used to give others, then I notice I am making a difference to someone.
“That’s inspiring … it takes my breath away.”
3/12/2014 12:00:00 AM
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