Rita Kress

Owner, Kress Corporation

Understanding the fundamental importance of adaptability in a complex business environment, Rita Kress, the current President of Illinois-based Kress Corporation, strives to balance the needs of a thriving commercial enterprise within the context of a growing and changing industrial landscape. Founded in 1965, Kress Corporation, a world leader in the manufacture of heavy equipment, is located in the village of Brimfield with a population less than 1,000. The company employs nearly 200 people so that the commercial and business efforts of Rita Kress reverberate from the small, rural town into the global marketplace. After attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rita Kress managed an advertising firm, learning many valuable skills that she used in her position as Treasurer for Kress Corporation. Her late husband Ted Kress started the company after a career in football. In 2003, she took ownership of the corporation after Ted Kress passed away. By elemental principles of hard work, perseverance, and flexibility, the corporation currently serves customer across the globe under her leadership. Kress Corporation now leads as the premier provider of heavy equipment such as slab carriers, coal haulers, and straddle carriers to numerous steel mills and mining operations. Rita Kress has participated in business planning and growth groups. She has served on the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and the Peoria County Zoning Board of Appeals. Using wise business sense developed through many years of working alongside her husband, Rita Kress continuously monitors developments and trends in the industry. In an ongoing pursuit to remain current, Rita Kress regularly expands and adapts the company’s product line to best suit the needs of clients worldwide. Some of the numerous specialty products designed and manufactured by the corporation include dozer blades, pipe layers, and a rough terrain fork truck designed to strict military specifications.