[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





            IN RECOGNITION OF ROBERT J. HARRIS'S LEADERSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID P. JOYCE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 30, 2018

  Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a great 
leader of the U.S. fastener industry. He is one of the basic building 
blocks of virtually all manufacturing, Robert J. Harris, Managing 
Director of the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI) since 1995, 
retired from the Institute on December 31, 2017. Rob brought financial 
stability and strategic leadership to IFI, the trade organization that 
has represented the U.S. fastener manufacturing industry since 1931. 
Under his guidance, the Institute became the recognized authority in 
the development of all technical standards for fasteners, a critical 
component of ensuring capability and safety across all products.
   Rob's leadership was perhaps most visible during the 1990s, when a 
pending regulatory burden imposed by the well-intentioned but fatally 
flawed Fastener Quality Act (FQA) threatened to shut down the industry 
and place severe limits on production of automakers, aerospace 
manufacturers, and a host of other U.S. and international producers. 
Working with a coalition of IFI members, as well as, representatives of 
the auto, aerospace, heavy equipment, appliance and other 
manufacturers, Rob developed and implemented a strategy to revamp the 
decades-old FQA. Congress approved the Fastener Quality Act Amendments 
Act in 1998, and it has been a great success in the twenty years since. 
Before joining IFI in 1995, Rob had already enjoyed a varied and 
successful career. A native of Kentucky, he graduated from the U.S. 
Merchant Marine Academy and subsequently earned a master's degree in 
International Finance from the College of William and Mary and an MBA 
from DePaul University. He served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam as a 
gunboat Captain.
   Along with all of the residents of the 14th Congressional District 
of Ohio, I congratulate Rob on a well-deserved retirement.

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