Bill Kennerson's Beau Ties

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2004 by Marcel, Joyce

Kenerson refined a managerial style of hiring the right people, giving them the scope of the job, and letting them do the work.

"I'm not a micromanager, and neither is my wife," Kenerson said. "We hire good people, and when we find someone who isn't up to it, then, 'Sorry.' The sooner you find that out, the better it is for everybody. You' re just holding them back from something they could be doing that would be better for them, and you're certainly not helping the company. We're talking about getting the work done. We're not talking about personality issues, but how you define the work, set it up, and get people to do it."

Personnel

After Yale, Kenerson went into the Marine Corps, where instead of going to Korea, he says, he "served at the "Battle of Cherry Point, NC." Out of the service, he entered General Electric's employee relations-development program, a three year-plus formal training program that gave him on-the-job assignments in many different locations. He stayed with GE for 11 years, then left for Baush & Lomb Corp as a corporate vice president of industrial relations. He spent three years there.

"Then the chairman and I didn't get along particularly well, so rather than he leave, I left," Kenerson said dryly. "And that's when I came to Vermont. I bought a ski lodge near Killington. Isn't that the flatlander's dream - to own and operate an inn in Vermont? And I liked to ski. I thought I understood cash flow, but after the first season ended, I really understood cash flow because there wasn't any. So I went back to my profession as a human resources executive and worked for Simmonds Precision over here in Vergennes."

While at Simmonds, Kenerson's boss urged him onto the board of the local United Way. Venman was the executive director.

"Bill was convinced by his boss that his true meaning in life would come from joining the United Way board," Venman said. "That was probably not his all-time favorite role. But that's how we met. We did not hit it off immediately. Then he went off the board, and I left United Way in the fall of 1984, and we really didn't .run into each other again. We met up again at the United Way Benefit golf tournament in 1987 and have been together ever since.

Kenerson worked at Simmonds for 11 years. He remained when the company was taken over by Hercules, Inc. But when BF Goodrich bought it, it was a different story.

"Despite their statements that they weren't going to make any major changes, the first thing they did was fire the general manager and myself," Kenerson said.

Government Work

Looking around for work, Kenerson was recommended to Snelling, then beginning his second go-round as governor of Vermont. Snelling was looking for an economic development director and Kenerson had the right credentials.

"I was a registered Republican, a Yale graduate, and I had worked in industry,"

Kenerson said. "Once I got to meet Snelling and talk with him, I liked him. I didn't have much dealings with him, though, because he passed away shortly after that."