Goodwill CEO Takes a Hands-On Approach to Job
George Kessinger’s quest to carry out God’s will brought him to Goodwill, where he has spent nearly 30 years helping some of the neediest members of society find dignity through work.
Kessinger joined Goodwill Industries after completing his master’s of divinity at Drew University Theological School in Madison, N.J. His father had been a Methodist minister in small towns throughout Missouri, but he was more interested in “shirt-sleeve” or “down-on-the-street” religion, as he calls it.
“I was desperate to find something, other than going back to Missouri and being a parish minister. That just didn’t seem like the right thing for me to do,” said Kessinger, a 55-year-old Tustin resident who has spent the last 20 years as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Orange County.
“In the ministry, they talk about a calling. Something was telling me that I should be working directly with people in need. In the seminary, I studied all about the philosophical concepts of religion, but it wasn’t as exciting for me as actually doing something with people.”
A graduate of the same seminary who was working for Goodwill in Texas found out about Kessinger through the university’s job-placement office and invited him to tour the nonprofit organization’s Houston headquarters.
Kessinger became an executive intern in Houston and went on to become president and CEO in Charleston, W. Va., and Kansas City, Mo., before coming to Orange County in 1977.
Kessinger says it was “good fortune” that brought him to Goodwill, but he is following in a tradition. The founders of both Goodwill and the Salvation Army were Methodist ministers.
“Back in the 1800s, the Methodist Church was out doing missions, providing for people who were poor. And out of that came a minister named William Booth who started the Salvation Army [in 1865]. In 1905, the Rev. Edgar Helms started Goodwill Industries. Both organizations came out of the Wesleyan tradition,” Kessinger said, referring to John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church.
In Orange County, Goodwill dates back to 1924 and currently has a staff of about 350 employees and 700 people with disabilities who earn money while being trained for the workplace. Kessinger oversees a $16-million annual budget that funds programs and operations at 12 stores and 29 collection sites. He also does substitute work as a minister, performing ceremonies and delivering the occasional guest sermon.
“I’ve married a few and buried a few,” Kessinger said.
Goodwill Industries has 188 organizations throughout North America and is considered one of the world’s largest nonprofit providers of employment and training services to people who are disabled or economically disadvantaged.
“We are a nonprofit organization, which is a little different than a charity. We’re a business that gives people an opportunity to work, to be productive for themselves. That’s what we give away, the opportunity to participate.
“Some of these people could stay home, watch TV and get more money on public support than they can by showing up here. But they choose to participate, and that gives them the right to be a full participant in our society. They can complain about everything that people complain about at work, and they can complain about the government because they are paying their taxes. They have gained these rights by choosing to participate.”
In Orange County, Kessinger established Goodwill’s first Internet service provider--Kruzin.net--as a way to provide low-cost, communications technology to people with disabilities. He sees the Internet and e-mail as an effective way for people to express thoughts and feelings directly to those who might otherwise be intimidated by their disabilities.
“It’s a little bit tough sometimes to communicate with someone who behaves oddly or abruptly because of a disability. I’ve been with friends who are treated differently, as if they weren’t a person because of their disabilities. But people are all basically the same inside. In society, we tend to put the importance on the external.
“That’s what this work is all about, to take this idea into the community and ask others to look for the internal qualities of a person. It’s the internal person, not the external, that’s important.”
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Profile: George Kessinger
Age: 55
Hometown: Neosho, Mo.
Residence: Tustin
Family: Wife, Pat; two grown daughters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology, University of Missouri; master’s of divinity degree, Drew University (Madison, N.J.); master’s degree in business administration, UC Irvine
Background: Executive intern, Goodwill Industries of Houston, 1969-71; president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Kanawha Valley (Charleston, W.Va.), 1971-74; president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater Kansas City, Mo., 1974-77; president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Orange County since 1977
Affiliations: Member, Goodwill Industries International Conference of Executives; chairman, Goodwill Industries International Partnership Initiative for 1994-1997; board member, Goodwill Global Inc.; chairman, Goodwill Centennial Committee; represented Goodwill during 1996 visit to Vietnam; chairman and board member, National Rehabilitation Facilities Coalition for 1995-1997; charter president, National Goodwill Computer Users Group
Honors: Goodwill Industries of America Gerald L. Clore Award for outstanding international programs; Goodwill Industries of America P.J. Trevethan Award for outstanding training programs; named 1993 Executive of the Year by the Orange County chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives
On giving: “People sometimes think that if they give clothes to Goodwill, we’ll give that clothing to people in need. That’s not the way it works. The clothes actually are a vehicle for us to provide opportunities to people, so that they can earn what they need. We give people an opportunity to work, to be productive and to participate.”
Source: George Kessinger
Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times