HSA 65th Anniversary Book

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WHERE THEY ARE NOW...
Ken Powell | ’76
JOBS AT HSA: Laundry Plant worker, Linen/Laundry Plant, FY73 – FY74; Manager, Linen/Laundry Plant, FY75; President, FY76.
JOBS SINCE HSA: After graduating from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, joined General Mills in 1979; managed cereal and
yogurt brands, then spent 12 years working abroad, first in the UK and then in Switzerland; helped launch Cereal Partners Worldwide,
a joint venture between General Mills and Nestlé, in 1990, which grew into a multi-billion-dollar company under his leadership; elected
President and COO of General Mills in 2006; elected CEO in 2007; elected Chairman of the Board in 2008; retired in 2017.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PATH FROM HSA TO GENERAL MILLS? “This was one of the things that came out of HSA: I was pretty
sure based on that experience that I was interested in general management. I didn’t pursue a career in finance or consulting; I wanted to
run something. I applied to pharmaceutical companies — places I thought I would get a career early — but decided to come to General
Mills.”
HOW DID YOU WORK YOUR WAY UP TO CEO? “I don’t know why the board gave me the job, to be honest! General Mills had been
hugely successful in North America, but most of our competitors were pretty global. There was a strong desire to expand our businesses
internationally. I had that experience through [Cereal Partners Worldwide]. Today, a third of our revenue comes from outside the U.S.,
and half of our employees live outside the U.S.”
WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR TIME AT HSA? “The highlight of my experience at HSA was I met my wife there! Her name
is Wendy Bennett ’76; she worked in the Publishing division.”
WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE AT HSA? “A couple things: first, I was a biology major and a premed guy, so
the first thing about HSA was it exposed me to something completely different. It really helped me realize I wanted to pursue a career in
business. … Another thing about it, thinking back, was meeting people like Brad Howe…people who were so committed to the university
and trying to get this thing off the ground for reasons beyond wanting to run a business. It was inspirational to meet people like that. We
all want to have careers where we can give back, and they were the first people I met who did that in spades.”
FEBRUARY 1, 1976 –
JANUARY 31, 1977
PRESIDENT
Stephen
Pollack
OFFICES
4 Holyoke St.
8 Holyoke St.
Hail to Hail and Farewell
On March 8, the first annual Hail and Farewell
banquet occurred at the Signet Society, honoring
the outgoing management team and welcoming
the next. Boston Office Flowers withered and
died. Travel continued its Christmas charterflight
program and sent six buses to New York
City over Thanksgiving for homebound lovers of
turkey. The Internal Revenue Service investigated
HSA’s nonprofit status — yet again — and left
it intact.
Let’s Go: Britain & Ireland blew away Dutton’s
sales expectations and left them drooling for
more. Let’s Go: Europe returned to a red cover and
General Manager Dan Del Vecchio
a hefty 704 pages. Dutton, thrilled by the ever-increasing success of Let’s Go, requested the use of the Let’s
Go logo on guides to Asia and Latin America compiled by researchers from the Council on International
Educational Exchange. The Board of Directors vetoed the proposal. With the assistance of a university
grant, The Unofficial Guide sped outward from Cambridge at the end of the summer, landing in the eager
hands of those needy and anxious incoming freshmen.
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
AGENCIES
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial Guide to Life
at Harvard
• Linen
• Publishing
• Catering
• Travel
• Custodial
• Refrigerator Rental
• Rings
• Union News Stand
• Instructional Services
• Boston Office Flowers
• Leasing
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HSA 65th Anniversary History Book 37