LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
SCAC's New Director: A Conversation with Greg Kenyon |
by Glen Pruitt |
The Sussex County AIDS Committee (SCAC) has entered the next period in its history, with the appointment of its new Executive Director. Greg Kenyon was offered the position in mid-February, and officially assumed his duties March 6, 2000. As the previous Executive Director of SCAC, I watched this selection process "from the outside". I knew how arduous the process of selecting a new Executive Director can be, having experienced it with SCAC three years ago. So I was not totally surprised to receive a telephone call a month ago from the SCAC Board of Directors. After two months of accepting resumes and conducting interviews, the Board had made its selection. However, the candidate still had a few questions that might best be answered by someone who had served in that position. Would I be willing to call the candidate? I quickly answered "yes". That's when I spoke to Greg Kenyon for the first time. While I cannot divulge what we talked about in that initial forty-minute telephone call, I can tell you one thing. I was tremendously impressed by this soft-spoken, thoughtful man. His questions were perceptive. He has a keen sense of "process", yet clearly has "people" as his priority. He was warm and friendly, even in the unusual business situation in which we found ourselves. I hung up the telephone that day with the intuitive feeling that the Board had chosen wisely. Since that day, I have met Greg "in real life". I found that my initial impressions were sound. We have spoken at great length about his background and about his vision for SCAC. Greg was born in Washington, DC and spent his early life in Arlington and Warrenton, VA. As a child, he developed a love for horses and became an accomplished young dressage rider. Greg received his B.A. in Art History from American University in Washington, DC, where he also pursued his graduate studies in Anthropology and International Relations. He has studied English Literature and History as a visiting student at St. Anne's College, Oxford, and Italian at the Divulgazione della Lingua Italiana in Rome. His lengthy resume is full of work experience with the Federal government. Greg has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement, the U.S. Family Support Administration, and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. So how does Greg feel about coming to work for an agency that is quite a bit smaller than the U.S. Federal Government? Greg responded with a laugh. "I left those government jobs because I wanted to do something else," he explained. "In positions such as those, it is easy to lose the sense of the people that you are serving. It is impossible to lose that sense when working in a local, direct service organization. You are consistently informed of your successes - and your failures - by the consumers." Greg has already been impressed by the direct involvement of past and current staff, directors and volunteers at SCAC. Greg considered several other job possibilities before choosing the Executive Director's position at SCAC. These other jobs were located in such diverse places as Katmandu (Nepal), Taos and Santa Fe (New Mexico) and Sicily (Italy). "The common denominator of all those opportunities was the chance to do community outreach and fundraising," says Greg. "Plus the jobs were in some of my favorite places in the world. I love the high desert areas." Greg went on to explain that there were several factors that tipped the scales in SCAC's favor. He cited his ties to the Mid-Atlantic region and to Sussex County in particular. Greg currently makes his home in western Sussex County, in the Laurel community. He was attracted by SCAC's rich history of responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the potential to build upon that history. Lastly, Greg is now caring for his 78 year-old mother, and he wanted to stay in an area that would be familiar surroundings for her. While a hard worker, Greg does find time to indulge his creative side. He spends much of his spare time in his garden. He also plays the piano ("badly", he says) and paints. He is a composer, having written some well-received ensemble works for strings. In the past year, one of his short dance works was performed in Atlanta. He is also working on a large dance piece with choreographer Diana Turner-Forte. Greg is quite the music lover, preferring almost all Latin music, the blues, a little jazz and some classical music. He also enjoys movies, especially the old "B" movies and bad science fiction flicks. Greg has his own first impressions of SCAC, and they have all been good ones. "On my first day of work, I was greeted with balloons, flowers, candy and cards. It was like being on a date except that I've never had a date that good!" he said with a laugh. He added that he has never felt such warmth and support before in a work situation. "The SCAC Board and staff are an amazing mix of people. They have such willingness to help and such passion for their work. I look forward to working with them and to meeting more of the volunteers and community supporters." SCAC will be hosting a Community Forum on Saturday, April 8, from 9:00 a.m. until noon at Epworth United Methodist Church, 20 Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth. This forum will be a great opportunity to meet Greg Kenyon and to explore new directions for SCAC and its work serving persons with HIV/AIDS. To learn more about this event, contact the SCAC office by calling 302-644-1090. Glen Pruitt, Contracts Manager of the Delaware HIV Consortium in Wilmington, is a frequent contributor to Letters. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 2, Mar. 10, 2000. |