ICFA Presents 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award

May 11, 2023  by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry   

“Working in the family business was never my ambition growing up. I landed there at the end of my senior year at Skidmore College because of a credit issue. I had to complete an independent study to have enough credits to graduate,” said Kathy.

“I was majoring in the pioneering area of Industrial Social Work, so a professor helped me develop an independent study program to support the human resources office. My first day was May 21, 1979, and 44 years later, I'm still here.”

“My objective has always been to create a culture where change isn't scary but embraced as we strive for continuous improvement. By being a nimble manufacturing operation that maximizes opportunities and minimizes downsides, we can survive and thrive,” said Kathy.

As CEO, she steered the company through several transitions that drove success. As the new century began, Telescope Casual underwent a revolution, moving from the mass production model of her grandfather and Henry Ford's day to mass customization to meet the desires of 21st-century consumers.

“We brought in a team from Honsha that helps transform companies using the philosophy learned at Toyota. We completely redesigned the factory. I created forums to listen to those whose input would guide our repositioning.”

“We started bringing in 10 retailers every year to ask what they were thinking and experiencing. We listened to their feedback, took detailed notes and acted on their suggestions. One of the earlier insights was that our fabric designs were too masculine. That year I banned all the men from the room when we made the cover selections,” said Kathy, laughing. 

Flash forward to the COVID pandemic, which required a seismic shift in priorities to keep the doors open and the team together. Employees were paid out-of-pocket during the first three weeks of the shutdown, with a PPP loan covering wages for the next 10 weeks until the factory opened again.

The entire Telescope Casual team and Granville residents rallied to help by offering to build IV poles, beds, chaises, dividers and gowns made from Sunbrella fabric. After many attempts to contact several New York State officials and TV interviews in which Kathy made public appeals to help, a response never came. Undaunted, the company produced masks from Sunbrella fabric, distributing them to local schools, businesses and retail partners nationwide.

After the height of the pandemic, Telescope Casual was impacted by supply chain disruptions, but not as severely as others in the industry thanks to their American-made and -sourced policy. “We faced some supply chain issues, but our long term-relationships with our suppliers certainly mitigated them. We can’t stress enough how our relationships with our suppliers helped get us through these very difficult times,” said Kathy.

Kathy isn't planning to leave soon, although she admits she is happy spending more time with her 10 grandchildren, “I'm still a 14-year-old girl at heart, so we have lots of adventures together!” Her marriage to her husband, Dave, is like a Hollywood rom-com plot. They met by pure chance 20+ years after a breakup that resulted in both marrying different people and Kathy having four daughters. With shared history and passions like road-tripping to find and revive flea market deals, they rekindled their romance, have been married for 26 years and have a son, Maxx. 

Kathy also enjoys and excels at painting, pottery and knitting. Her creative outlets provide balance and keep her in touch with herself. She has also served on the small business advisory board to the Federal Reserve, on the regional board of Glens Falls National Bank, been a 35-year member of the Granville Little League Board and most recently the Advisory Board of the Granville Community Foundation.

As she prepares the next generation to lead the family business, she shares her philosophy of life: “Never do anything for appreciation; focus on what you can do to make a difference in a way that is meaningful and beneficial to others, because it’s the right thing to do.”

Kathy will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ICFA Awards Gala on July 11 at the Georgia Aquarium. Tickets are available at https://www.icfanet.org/2023-awards-dinner-reservations/ and a variety of sponsorship levels can be secured at https://www.icfanet.org/2023-awards-gala-sponsorship/.