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become a reality,” Chivers said. RUSH Facilities, part of the RUSH family of companies and led by Bob Dillow, is just as active, managing and maintaining Space Florida’s Space Port Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. “We are on the front lines of what’s happening at the Space Center,” Forbes said. “We’re going to see launches every week, both vertical and horizontal, and the most exciting part of that is, it’s all going to
happen right here. It’s manufactured, launched and landed right here.”
Toward the Future May 2019 marked the start of the celebration for RUSH's 35th Anniversary year, with plenty of accomplishments to toast. But Chivers and Forbes are not planning to slow down. On the contrary, their focus is on the many more milestones ahead. “The goal is that the c om p a ny c ont i nue s for many generations to come,” Chivers said. If they have anything to say about it, those generations will not only be a part of shaping RUSH’s legacy, they will be shaped by it.
(L to R) William Chivers, Bob Dillow, President of RUSH Facilities, and Al Forbes
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“I always tell this story,” Chivers said, prefacing his next statement with a smile. “It sums us up so well. One day, at a staff meeting, I asked everybody in the room,
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‘What do we do?’ Everyone’s answer was pretty similar: ‘We build stuff.’ And I told them, ‘That's not correct.’ We build things that make a difference.’” For Central Florida’s future as a hub of innovation in health care, technology and other industries, that difference is exciting. But for that of the engineer driving over the NASA Parkway each day, and for the little ones at home who will run outside one summer night to watch a launch their parents made possible, that difference means everything. “I was born here in Brevard County, and it’s always been my home,” Chivers said. “My daughter and her husband live here. I have two grandkids who live here. To see the change in the community — which I know is going to provide a better quality of life for them, more things for them to do and more opportunities — is incredibly rewarding.”