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October
2003
Terry Kelly recently experienced multiple of unique career transitions. He retired from a position as a Human Resources executive with a large corporation, took a temporary management position where he coordinated the closure of a manufacturing plant, and then assumed a leadership position at an international non-profit organization. We spoke with Terry Kelley as his temporary management position was ending, and he was getting ready to start his newest position as the Chief Operating Officer of Carelift International.
KAI: You've got an impressive resume that spans over 40 years. Can you share some of your career history with us?
Kelly: After I graduated from Villanova University with my Chemical Engineering degree in 1961, I held a series of positions at DuPont in Wilmington over a period of 11 years. I was a process engineer, a production supervisor and an area manager in a nuclear production facility, and in two industrial and biochemical plants. In 1969, I graduated from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business. From 1972 through 1988, I was plant manager for the Gates Engineering Division of Glidden, where I managed an industrial coatings plant through dramatic growth from $3 million to $30 million per year. From 1988 to earlier this year, I was with Rohm & Haas. I started with Rohm & Haas as a manufacturing manager for electronic materials, and then was a polymer and resins plant manager for three years. I spent two years there as a senior staff consultant in polymers and resins, where I was charged with identifying and standardizing global best practices in manufacturing operations. Over the past six years, I was the Human Resources Director for the coatings manufacturing division, managing labor relations, organizational development, training and recruiting for 10 plants and 2,000 employees in North America.
KAI: Can you tell us about your transition out of Rohm &
Haas?
Kelly:
I had been through a number of plant shutdowns over the prior year or so, and I had reached a point in my life when I wanted to be more independent. I didn't want to be part of the rat race - I'm at an age where most people are considering retirement, but I'm not ready yet. I wanted to finish out my career, but not in a "CEO" role, either. I just felt the need to do something different. Towards the end of last year, Rohm & Haas offered me a package, and I took it. Part of that package was outplacement and career counseling. I had been very familiar with Kelleher Associates as a customer of theirs in my H.R. position. I already knew Ed, and his firm had a relationship with my company, so I came to them to help me in my transition. The process that Kelleher Associates uses helps you understand what you are really looking for - I think it's what sets them aside from the run of the mill outplacement firms that are out there. They help you identify your competencies and capabilities, and help you find out what you are proud of and what you really enjoy doing; what were some of the results that you were proud of in your career, what areas of work do you enjoy. I came into the process early this year, and it took me about six months to find my way to the next step in my career.
KAI: Can you describe that next step, the project you've been working on over the past few months?
Kelly: In the process of working with Kelleher Associates, I started contacting old colleagues in my network. An attorney friend of mine (with Dilworth Paxson in Philadelphia), and someone who I did a lot of labor negotiations with in the past, had an assignment for a company that was in the midst of closing a PVC manufacturing plant in Delaware. The plant, a division of a Japanese company (Kaneka Delaware Corporation), needed to find someone to communicate to the community, and to the employees, what was going on, and coordinate the closure.
I was hired by Kaneka as the Vice President and Plant Manager, and it's been a very rewarding experience working with a lot of good people. As I've learned in my career, anytime a company acquires another company or plant, you have to do the "crazy math" -- you end up rationalizing what sites you keep open, what employees you keep and which ones you let go. In a situation like this, it makes a big difference how you walk away. There are a number of intangibles, such as the company's reputation in the community, and the relationships it has with its employees past and present. In a lot of ways, the morale boost that I received when I was working with Kelleher Associates in my transition is something I tried to share with the people at Kaneka Delaware. They needed a morale boost, and I hope that I've helped them move along. Helping people through that process was something I felt very good about. There's a satisfaction in helping keep them whole. It's taken longer than a normal shutdown or closure - there were environmental issues, issues with the company's customers. We've worked very hard to place people in house where we could. We also now have a totally "clean" site for the next tenant in this location.
KAI: Now that the plant closure is completed, what are your plans?
Kelly: I was offered a position as the Chief Operating Officer for a non-profit organization. Carelift International, which is based in the Philadelphia area, harvests used or obsolete medical equipment, brings it back up to regulations, and sets up healthcare clinics in developing countries. They solicit contributions from hospitals, medical suppliers, and pharmaceutical companies for packages, that they can then reassemble in places such as the Ukraine, and a number of former Soviet Union republics. It was a very unusual situation - my son is on their board of directors, and he called me and asked me if I would be interested in this position. Thanks to the folks at Kelleher Associates, I had my resume together, and I sent it along to Carelift International's founder. They had a need for organizational development, and I was impressed with their mission. I started my new position with them on October 1.
KAI: What impressed you about working with Kelleher Associates?
Kelly: I had been a customer of theirs when I was at Rohm & Haas, and had learned that they were just small enough to take a personal interest in everybody they worked with. Most of the people they work with, like me, need a real kick in the butt to get the process started. They help you get your equilibrium back. I was able to find out what it is I can contribute, and where I can contribute (which was the path that led me to Carelift International). The team at Kelleher Associates helps you cut through the ice quickly. Their other clients function like a focus group that shares successes and failures without any hidden agendas. You realize that you are all in the same boat. It's a very collegial but results oriented atmosphere.
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