Student to run family business after college

Everyone knows how it works.

The day you’re handed your college diploma is the day you step right off the podium and straight back into your parents’ house, cursing the economy on your way in.

daniel Johnston/ VANGUARD STAFf

Garret Kelly (left) with father, Tom Kelly. Garret will begin working for Neil Kelly Inc. after graduation and will eventually replace Tom as head of the company.

Just don’t tell any of this to Garret Kelly.

After he graduates from Portland State this spring, Garret Kelly will take his new economics degree to Neil Kelly Inc., a residential remodeling company that was started by his grandfather in 1947. It’s currently headed by his father, Tom Kelly.

And while he’s certainly excited about the management-level position awaiting him, Garret Kelly is hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps by taking over the company someday.

“Well, frankly, it was just a perception of his capability,” said Tom Kelly, who went on to explain that his decision to promote his son was not unlike a simple internal hire.

Garret Kelly has worked for his father’s company in various positions and has collected a series of field-related internships along the way.

But even with his eye set on running Neil Kelly Inc., he still has two terms of college left to finish. Not to mention little idea of what exactly his future role in the company will entail—be it CEO, owner or chairman of the board.

Tom Kelly is no stranger to this scenario. After his father had a heart attack that drove him out of the business, Tom Kelly took over as president in 1979.

He was only 29 at the time, self-admittedly a little young to run the company his father had started 30 years earlier.

Since then, the company has taken advantage of the boom economy in Bend and expanded southward, as well acquiring a Seattle-based home design company in 2011.

Today, the company’s five locations serve a sizable portion of the Pacific Northwest while remaining one of Portland’s most recognizable names in the business.

The advantage of these 33 years of hindsight has helped Tom Kelly to realize that throwing Garret straight into the big chair this summer might not be the wisest course of action—both for his company and for his son.

Until Tom Kelly thinks he is ready, Garret Kelly will work with experienced company leaders while his father plans to “semi-retire,” though he will still retain a role within the company.

The time will also give Garret Kelly a chance to take extraneous business and marketing classes, fields he has always been interested in that might prepare him more fully for running his family’s business.

While both Kellys seem to radiate a shared aura of business acumen, a clear passion for home design and interior aesthetics seems to glow equally bright.

“I’m excited,” Garret Kelly said, explaining that his desire to work in the home remodeling industry is not spurred solely by the opportunity handed to him. “I recently helped frame a house, and you get done at the end of the day and look back and think, hey, I built something. It’s right there.”

Tom Kelly believes this passion is all part of running and maintaining a family business—simply opening the doors for operation on Monday morning is not enough.

Under Tom Kelly, Neil Kelly Inc. has become one of the city of Portland’s leaders in the green market. Tom Kelly was recognized as the “Dean of Green” by Professional Remodeler magazine.

Recently, his brother Jim sold his own business, Rejuvenation Hardware, to Williams-Sonoma, fulfilling what he called an “entrepreneurial streak” in the Kelly family.

So what would Garret Kelly have done had he not signed on at Neil Kelly Inc.?

“Oh gosh,” he explained, turning to his father, “I had been talking about starting some small businesses with friends a while back,
remember?”

But Tom Kelly knows better than to let the right man slip through his fingers.

“In the world of family businesses, the ideal outcome is to transition into the third generation,” he said.